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FORTY YEARS 

OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

IN MISSISSIPPI 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 
EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO 



By 

Stuart Grayson Noble, Ph.D. 

Professor of Education in Millsaps College 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, NO. 94 



Published by 

Ceacfjcrs College, Columbia tHnibergUp 

NEW YORK CITY 
I918 



Monograpii. 



•3 






Copyright, 1918, by Stuart Grayson Noble 






B 24 1919 



©C;.A535041 



PREFACE 

In the babel of many voices arising in the South, it is difficult at 
times to determine just what is the attitude of the southern white 
people toward the education of the Negro. It is frequently asked: 
Do southern people believe that the Negro can and should be 
educated? What facilities have been provided for this purpose? Is 
the trend of public sentiment toward providing more adequate 
means for his education? Is the Negro child being discriminated 
against in the distribution of school funds? Does the progress of 
the race in the past fifty years justify the efforts that have been 
put forth to educate the Negro? r^: ; 

In an effort to answer these questions(the author has undertaken 
to trace the history of public education in the typically southern 
state of Mississippi, taking pains at every stage in the progress of 
the narrative to inquire what southern white people have thought 
and done about the education of the Negro. L-have studied closely 
the social and economic conditions of the state during the forty 
years between 1870 and 1910, and have sought the bearing of these 
conditions upon the education of both white and colored races,' In 
this study, since practically nothing has been done along this line 
in Mississippi, I have been forced to draw my conclusions largely 
from data contained in the state records, in the government reports, 
and in a limited number of local newspapers. 



This study was begun during the summer of 1915 in a course in 
the History of Education in the United States, conducted by Dr. 
Paul Monroe in Teachers College, Columbia University. I am under 
special obligation to Dr. Monroe for his wise and helpful suggestions 
as to the plan and purpose of the study. 

I wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance of the Faculty 
committee which examined it. Dr. William H. Kilpatrick and Dr. 
David Snedden. I am also under obligations to Dr. Dunbar 
Rowland, director of the Department of Archives and History of 
Mississippi; to Dr. J. C. Fant, of the University of Mississippi; to 



iv Preface 

Professor E. C. Branson, of the University of North Carolina; 
to Mr. Jackson Davis, field agent of the General Education Board; 
and to my colleagues, Dr. A. A. Kern and Dr. J. M. Burton, of 
Millsaps College, for reading the manuscript and offering sugges- 
tions for its improvement. 

s. G. N. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

The Social and Economic Setting, 1 870-1 871 i 

The Attitude of the Several Social Elements toward 

Negro Education 6 

The Educational Nucleus Formed before 1870 20 

Education during the Reconstruction 28 

Education under Southern Rule, 1876-1886 48 

The Development of the Public School System since 1886 61 

The Status of the Teaching Body 77 

The Distribution of the Common School Fund 90 

The Curriculum 98 

Public Sentiment in Regard to the Education of the Negro 

since 1886 105 



The Influence of Education upon the Life of the Negro . 114 

Social and Economic Progress 129 

Conclusions 133 

Bibliography 137 

Statistical Summary 139 



CHAPTER I 
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SETTING, 1870-1871 

Introductory. In its legal status the public school system of Mis- 
sissippi is not, nor has it ever been, a dual system. There is a single 
school system which provides educational advantages for the chil- 
dren of both races. If there were a legal provision which specifically 
prohibited the children of one race from enjoying the school privi- 
leges extended to the other, such a provision would be rendered null 
and void by the Federal Constitution, as a discrimination based 
upon "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The history 
of the public schools is therefore not the history of the schools which 
the state has provided for the instruction of the white youth, but 
the history of schools provided for the instruction of both races. 
Despite, however, the equal status before the law of white and 
colored schools, educational facilities for the colored race have not 
run parallel with those provided for the whites. Recognizing this 
difference the author, although he is particularly interested in trac- 
ing the development of education for Negroes, is forced to give a 
comprehensive treatment of the public school system with respect 
to the education of both races, in order to give a faithful account 
of the Negro schools. 

Economic and social conditions that have tended to promote the 
growth and efftciency of the public school system have in large 
measure affected the trend of Negro education. In like manner, 
efficiency, or lack of efficiency, in the administration of education 
has been felt in both white and colored schools. At the begin- 
ning of this study, therefore, it would be well to give an account 
not only of the organization of the public school system, but to 
take into consideration the social and economic conditions which 
attended its birth. 

Density of Population. Density of population is an important 
factor in determining the growth and efficiency of school systems. 
To what extent this factor was influential at this period in Mis- 
sissippi, we may learn from a study of the census reports of 1870. 



2 Public Schools in Mississippi 

There were then, according to the census returns, 382,896 whites 
and 444,201 Negroes, distributed over an area of 46,810 square 
miles, or 17.9 persons to the square mile. An idea of the relative 
density of the state may be had if we consider that the density of 
Ohio ^ at this time was 65.4; of Pennsylvania, 78.3; of New York, 
92.0; and of Massachusetts, 181. 3. There were only two ^ counties 
in the state with a population over 30,000, and there were seven 
counties ^ with less than 5,000. There were only four towns in the 
state with a population over 2,000, and Vicksburg, the largest of 
these, had only 12,443. 

The importance of density of population with respect to educa- 
tion may be seen in the following statements. In fifteen counties, 
comprising an area of 9,292 square miles, the Negroes out-numbered 
the whites nearly three to one.* In this 'black belt' there were 
179.237 Negroes and 60,004 whites, or 298 Negroes to every 100 
whites. This situation was equalled in only one other southern 
state, Alabama, which had a somewhat more extensive black belt 
with 315 Negroes to every 100 whites. The black belt counties 
of Mississippi were among the most populous of the state, and yet 
there were but 19.3 Negroes and 5.1 whites to the square mile. 
This means that even the most populous areas of the state were but 
sparsely settled. It means, further, if we allow three children to 
the family, that there were many townships in this section in which 
thirty-six white families^ would have to support schools for approxi- 
mately 100 white children and 400 Negro children. But educational 
conditions were more favorable, under a system of local taxation, 
in the black belt than in many of the more sparsely settled white 
counties, since the black counties were not only the most populous 
but the richest. In respect to the poor white counties Superinten- 
dent Pease reported^ in 1872 that there were many in which the 

1 1 refer to these states in particular because many of tlie nortliern men wlio had in 
hand the organization of the new school system, were most familiar with schools 
in these states, and hoped to plant their old ideas in new soil. They failed to con- 
sider the difference pointed out above. 

2 Hinds and Lowndes. 

3 The 'white counties': Greene, Hancock, Jackson, Jones, Marion, Wayne, Perry. 

^ Kelley Miller: Education of the Negro, United States Commissioner's Report, 1900- 

1901, p. 731- 
^ The white families were the tax- payers; the Negroes had not yet acquired property 

to any extent. 
* United States Commissioner's Report, 1873, p. 213. 



Social and Economic Setting, 1870-1871 3 

maximum tax levy (ten mills for schoolhouses and five for teachers) 
would not raise revenue sufficient to educate one-fourth of the 
scholastic population. It is clear, therefore, that the factor of 
sparse distribution of the population was to play an important part 
in determining the number, size, and grade of schools to be estab- 
lished, as well as in determining their future support. 

Illiteracy. The problem of illiteracy in 1870 was not complicated 
to an undue extent by the question of race. It was mainly a colored 
problem. Advance sheets of the census ^ this year showed that out 
of a total population of 382,896 whites, there were 23,103 adult 
illiterates; and that out of a total of 444,896 Negroes, there were 
168,031 adult illiterates. It is evident that very few adult Negroes 
were able to read and write. These figures are sufficient to indicate 
that the educational problem in 1870 was largely the problem of 
providing schools for Negroes for whom no schools had heretofore 
existed. 

Economic Situation. The economic situation has much to do in 
shaping the sentiment of people toward education. A brief summary 
therefore will not be out of place just here. The following figures 
represent the assessed value of real and personal property for the 
years indicated:^ 

i860 $509,472,902 

1865 134,131,128 

1870 177,288,892 

It is impossible to estimate the market value of this property, 
but considering the unsettled times, the figures for 1865 and 1870 
are certainly not underestimated. It may be added that during 
the decade between i860 and 1870 the value of farm property ^ 
alone declined from $241,478,571 to $92,890,758, or 61.5 per cent. 
During the same period the cotton crop declined from 1,202,507 
bales to 565,559. The demoralization of war and the inability to 
make a proper adjustment to the new economic situation are written 
large in these figures. 

An element worthy of consideration in this connection is the 
fact that the cotton crops for 1866, 1867, and 1870 were failures. 

^United States Commissioner's Report, 1871, p. 68. 

* United States Congress, Report of Committee on Affairs in Late Insurrectionary 

States, p. 179. 
'Abstract of United States Census, 1910, Mississippi Supplement, p. 612. 



4 Public Schools in Mississippi 

In addition to this, levees (embankments) which had protected the 
fertile Yazoo Valley, and which had been cut during the war, were 
not repaired until 1870. This threw open to the floods 4,000,000 
acres of the most fertile land in the state. ^^ 

Still another factor which contributed to the general demoraliza- 
tion was the fact that the state had suffered the loss of nearly 
$8,000,000 worth of cotton by confiscation, and the loss by con- 
flagration during the war of countless numbers of courthouses 
and public buildings. The Federal government also had levied a 
two-and-one-half-mill tax upon every pound of cotton for the years 
1866 and 1867, and a three-mill tax for 1868.^^ 

To complete the story of demoralization we may add the diffi- 
culty of controlling labor in this unsettled period of readjustment, 
and the inability of both races readily to adapt themselves to the 
new situation. 

Such was the economic situation in 1870 when it was proposed 
to establish a system of public schools, costing $1,000,000 for 
equipment, and $400,000 annually for maintenance.^^ The initial 
cost was particularly heavy because of the necessity of establishing 
separate schools for whites and blacks. The white tax-payers, 
already driven to the verge of bankruptcy by the excessive burdens 
of war and taxation, were called upon to support this new burden. 

The Political Situation, 186^-1870. A brief review of the political 
situation is in order just here that we may understand the circum- 
stances under which the public school system was organized. Im- 
mediately after the close of the Civil War, Governor Clark was 
arrested by the federal authorities and placed in prison, and 
Judge William L. Sharkey was appointed by President Johnson 
as provisional governor. Judge Sharkey, an esteemed citizen of 
the state, shortly after assuming the duties of governor, called a 
convention for the purpose of revising the constitution, with a 
view to making it conform to the federal requirements. The con- 
vention met in 1865, but the changes which were made in the con- 
stitution failed to satisfy the United States government. The mem- 
bers of the convention were representative Southerners and naturally 
their views on Negro suffrage and the new status of the freedman 

'" Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, Chap. IV. 
» Ibid. 

'2 The estimate of Governor Alcorn here given is doubtless conservative. See Message 
on Education, 1870, House Journal, Appendix, p. 12. 



Social and Economic Setting, iSyo-iSyi 5 

did not coincide with northern views. The instrument, however, 
was accepted by the state, an election was held by the southern 
white citizens, and the legislature was called to adapt the old code 
to the new social situation. General B. G. Humphreys, a promi- 
nent Mississippian, was elected governor. 

Meanwhile, a federal military governor exercised police control 
in the state, his authority at times conflicting with that of the civil 
authorities. As soon as the constitution of 1865 was rejected by 
the federal government the military governor began organizing the 
new electorate for the purpose of selecting delegates to a second 
Constitutional Convention. In 1868 the military governor saw 
fit to exercise his legal prerogative of removing the civil governor. 
General Humphreys, and to appoint in his place General Adelbert 
Ames, of the federal army. 

Under the leadership of military authorities, Freedmen's Bureau 
officials, and carpet-baggers, the Negroes were organized into the 
Republican party, and when the election of delegates to the Con- 
stitutional Convention took place, the Republicans returned a 
substantial majority. Of the hundred delegates, seventeen were 
Negroes, some twenty or more were carpet-baggers, and twenty-nine 
were 'scalawags'. Altogether it was a motley gathering that con- 
stituted what became known as the 'Black and Tan Convention'. 

The constitution drafted by this body proved acceptable alike 
to the federal gove|nment and to the new proletariat of Mississippi. 
It was ratified in 1869; state officers were elected under its pro- 
visions in the fall of the same year. The Republicans found them- 
selves masters of the situation, with a good majority in the legisla- 
ture. General A. L. Alcorn, a Southerner who believed in pursuing 
a policy of conciliation with the new proletariat, was elected gov- 
ernor. Captain H. R. Pease, then at the head of the Freedmen's 
Bureau schools in the state, became superintendent of education. ^^ 

1' The historical information included in this section has been derived mainly from 
Garner's Reconstruction in Mississippi and from McNeily's Provisional Government 
of Mississippi. 



CHAPTER II 

THE ATTITUDE OF THE SEVERAL SOCIAL ELEMENTS 
TOWARD NEGRO EDUCATION 

The Attitude of Southern Whites before i8yo. The best element 
of southern citizenry were quick to reahze in the passing of the 
Negro from slavery into freedom, that the necessity of educating 
him to fit into the new social fabric stared them in the face. Although 
many seriously doubted his ability to profit from schooling beyond 
certain limits, there seems to have been a very general disposition 
among southern white people to provide schools for his instruction. 
We find evidences of this attitude as early as 1865. 

In the inaugural address of Governor Humphreys, October 16, 

1865, we find this statement t^ "The highest degree of elevation in 
the scale of civilization to which they are capable, morally and intel- 
lectually, must be secured to them by their education and religious 
training." The governor expressed his faith by works when, in 
1867, he established a Freedmen's Bureau school upon his own 
plantation.2 

General Thomas J. Wood, assistant commissioner of the Freed- 
men's Bureau, in the fall of 1866 attempted to enlist the coopera- 
tion of the white citizens of the state in the establishment of a sys- 
tem of Negro schools. His proposition was endorsed by clergymen 
and bishops of the various denominations, and seems to have been 
quite generally approved throughout the state.^ Dr. C. K. Marshall, 
a prominent clergyman of the day, was one of the most enthusiastic 
supporters of the plan. In an address published in December, 

1866, he strongly expressed this opinion: "The education of the 
freedmen's children in the common branches taught in our schools, 
is unquestionably a duty we owe alike to ourselves and to them." 
Early in 1867, J. M. Langston made a tour of the state in the inter- 

1 Governor Humphreys was elected by the southern whites in 1865. He was a typical 

representative of the Old South. See McNeily: Provisional Government of Missis- 
sippi, Publications, Mississippi Historical Society, 1916, p. 16. 

2 Freedmen's Bureau Report, January i, 1867, p. 17. 
'McNeily: Provisional Governtneftl of Mississippi, p. 237. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 7 

est of the Freedmen's Bureau, and reported as follows: "I talked 
with no leading influential white man in Mississippi, whatever may 
have been his views with regard to the late rebellion and the aboli- 
tion of slavery, who did not express the opinion, apparently with 
full earnestness, that the freedmen ought to be educated." 

On January 17, 1867, at the organization meeting of the State 
Teachers' Association,^ the representative southern white teachers 
went on record as favoring a state system of public schools for white 
and colored children alike. The resolution which embodies their 
opinion reads: 

Resolved, i. That the enactment of a public school system that shall meet 
the wants and necessities of the entire population is a desideratum of the 
utmost importance. 

2. That it is the duty as well as the interest of the state, through its 
legislature, to establish and maintain normal schools in diflferent parts of the 
state for the purpose of educating colored teachers, so that they may be 
qualified to labor as teachers among the colored population of the state. 

3. That it would be for the interest of the people and the promotion of 
education to have a uniform system. 

A year later, the platform of the Democratic State Convention 
contained the following resolution:^ 

Resolved . . . that we will in good faith and willingly aid in securing 
to the colored race the security of person and property, and full guarantees 
against oppression and injustice as freedmen; cherishing against them no 
feeling of hostility, and desiring that they may elevate themselves in the 
scale of humanity by mental culture to any extent of which they may be 
capable. 

While there seems to have been little objection to the education 
of the Negro, there was objection to the means by which it was 
being undertaken. Numerous citations may be noted which indi- 
cate hostility to northern teachers and to northern doctrines. The 
Jackson Standard voices objection in these words :^ 

We are glad to see an awakening disposition on the part of the southern 
people to take charge of schools for little Negroes, and have them taught by 
southern teachers instead of Yankees. It is patent to all thinking men that 

* Mayes: History of Education in Mississippi, p. 282; also "Progress of Education in 

Mississippi," Mississippi Teacher, September, 1889. 

* Natchez Democrat, February 25, 1868. 

* McNeily: Provisional Government of Mississippi, p. 103. Excerpt quoted. 



8 Public Schools in Mississippi 

the policy of the South in the new relation with the Negro, is to have him 
educated to the extent of his capacity and condition. And this should be done 
by southern people, who will abstain from instilling into the minds of Negroes 
hatred and distrust of the Southerners. We should be better friends to the 
Negro than to quietly turn him over to the grasping cupidity of the New 
Englanders. 

The Brandon Republican ^ expresses the same opinion and urges 
southern white teachers to take up the work of instructing Negroes. 
The Canton Mail, in defending a disabled Confederate veteran 
who was teaching a Negro school at Canton, says: 

Who can blame him? He saw, as all sensible men must, that these Negro 
schools must be established throughout our land, and knew too, that it 
would be much better for southern men to train the minds of young Africa, 
than to have some red-mouth Radical fill the position. 

McNeily quotes the Meridian Messenger and the Oxford Falcon 
to almost the same effect.^ If allowed to go about it in their own 
way, southern leaders seem to have been perfectly willing to have 
the Negro educated. Despite the frequent objection to northern 
teachers, before 1868 the Freedmen's Bureau had numerous appli- 
cations from planters asking teachers for the freedmen on their 
plantations, and agreeing to provide suitable schoolhouses on con- 
dition that teachers were sent to them.^ It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that many of these applications for teachers were prompted by 
economic rather than by philanthropic motives. Schools were to be 
.established in order to attract labor and to keep the laborers con- 
tented. 

We must not conclude that there was no opposition to the edu- 
cation of the Negro at any time before 1870, or that there was not 
a certain element in continuous opposition. The opposition to the 
Freedmen's Bureau schools was at first more strenuous than it was 
in any other state.^° Efiforts were made to keep the Bureau agents 
from finding places to teach; teachers were abused and intimidated. 
But, by the fall of 1866, if we may accept the word of the Bureau 
inspector, despite a few 'rabid fire-eaters', a favorable change had 
taken place in the minds of the people.^'^ The excerpts from the 

^ Provisional Government of Mississippi, p. 104. Excerpt quoted. 

8 Ibid. 

' Freedmen's Bureau Report, January i, 1868, p. 33. 

^'^ Ibid., January i, 1866. 

"Freedmen's Bureau Report, January i, 1867, p. 17. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 9 

press previously quoted in this chapter seem to point toward the 
'favorable change' referred to by the inspector. 

The entry of the Negro into politics in 1868, however, seems to 
have brought about a reversion of feeling on the part of the South- 
erners. McNeily claims that General Wood's plan for a system of 
Negro schools, which had met with such enthusiastic endorsement 
a year earlier, was never tested out.^^ He adds, "There can be no 
judgment of its merits, as it was too soon swept away by the surging 
waves of race distrust and antipathy raised by the ensuing radical 
policy." The Southerners, later, doubtless not without good rea- 
son, viewed with suspicion and alarm the attempt of the Republi- 
cans to establish by public taxation a system of free public schools 
— suspicion and alarm intensified because they were denied the 
power to say how much they should be taxed to support this system. 

In the spring of 1868 the 'Black and Tan Convention', made up 
largely of carpet-baggers and Negroes, met to draft a constitution. 
The carpet-baggers were in many cases well-meaning men, able and 
earnest, but they had slight comprehension of the complex social 
situation which faced them. That there were many men of doubtful 
character among them can scarcely be denied. The radical element 
of the convention soon secured control and proceeded to write into 
the constitution elaborate provisions for a public school system. 

On the floor of the convention the storm center on the question 
of education hovered about Section 5, ^^ which was unanimously 
reported by the Committee on Public Education, February 3, 
1868. This section provided that a school should be maintained in 
each school district at least four months in the year, and that no dis- 
trict should receive a share of the school fund if such were not the 
case. Mr. Stovall, a Republican representative from Carroll 
County, moved to amend this section by adding: 

Provided, That separate schools for the white and colored children be 
maintained in each district. And provided further, That should there not be 
a sufficient number of either race to maintain a separate school, the minority 
race shall have the privilege of sending to school in an adjoining district, and 
be entitled to their pro rata of the school fund the same as if the school was 
taught in their own district.^^ 

** McNeily: Provisional Government of Mississippi, p. 241. 
"Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1867-1868, p. 148. 
" Ibid., p. 316. 



10 Public Schools in Mississippi 

The amendment was tabled, as was also a similar provision by Mr, 
Compton, and a third amendment proposing to subsidize the 
private schools in sparsely settled districts for the benefit of the 
minority race.^^ The section on the raising of funds for the establish- 
ment and maintenance of the system seems to have passed without 
much controversy. 

There can hardly be any doubt that it was the purpose of the 
convention to establish a system of 'mixed schools', that is, schools 
to be attended by the children of both races. This action, ^^ com- 
bined with the proposition to raise funds for the support of the 
schools by a property tax, created pronounced opposition on the 
part of the Southerners to the whole scheme. The Daily Clarion, 
the chief organ of the Democrats in the state, shortly after the 
tabling of Stovall's amendment, has this to say of the article on 
education : ^"^ 

As the measure now stands, a fund will be raised by taxing the property 
of the people to build up a gigantic system of 'Public Education', under the 
control of imported amalgamationists. The white people, who, it is desig- 
nated, shall pay this tax, will be admitted to the enjoyment of its benefits 
only on condition that they will send their children to these mixed schools. 
This they can never do, without violating all the instincts of their nature, 
and degrading themselves and polluting their posterity. The scheme prac- 
tically will amount to their exclusion. 

An editorial of a later date indicates the depth of feeling which 
the suggestion had raised : ^^ 

No intelligent and true friend of the Negro, much less of the white race, 
can look upon the measure with any other feeling but of loathing and disgust. 
In the intent of the authors to set the indestructible laws of God at defiance, 
and to subvert the usages of the white race in both sections of the Union, 
they have sown the seeds of ineradicable enmity and discord between the 
races. 

The Clarion, however, wished it to be distinctly understood that 
it did not oppose Negro education, when it denounced in such 
strenuous language the mixed school proposition.^^ 

"^ Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1 867-1 868, p. 360. 
1^ Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 363. 
1' Daily Clarion, February, 1868. 
'* Ibid., February 21, i868. 
" Ibid., April 8. 1868. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education ii 

In concluding this section on the attitude of the southern whites 
prior to 1870, we may say that it seems clear that the leaders 
favored the education of the Negro, although many doubted his 
ability to advance very far. They were ready to cooperate in pro- 
viding schools for the elevation of the race, asking only a voice in 
deciding the means for establishing these schools, and in determin- 
ing the kind of teachers that were to be employed. They were 
opposed to northern teachers, and endeavored to persuade southern 
people to become teachers in Negro schools. They felt that north- 
ern immigrants did not sympathize with their inbred aversion to 
social equality with the Negro, and feared that amalgamation of 
the races would be brought about through mixed schools. Finally, 
they strenuously objected to being taxed without representation 
for the support of schools, and more especially did they object at 
this time because of their sore economic straits. If they had been 
able to provide the means for the education of the Negro, and had 
had the assurance that no pernicious doctrines would be instilled 
into him, it is altogether likely that they would have cooperated 
heartily in the enterprise. 

Attitude of Southern Whites after 1870. The southern white people 
watched with anxious and suspecting eyes the activities of the car- 
pet-bag government in organizing the new school system. The 
carpet-bag and Negro elements ratified their constitution in Decem- 
ber, 1869. The legislature was forthwith called to draft laws in 
accordance with its provisions. In the discussion of the Public 
School Bill, introduced shortly after the session convened, the same 
questions which had created so much excitement in 1868, namely, 
the question of mixed schools, and the question of providing the 
means for maintenance, came to the forefront. 

The Public School Bill ^o placed the administration of the schools 
under a county superintendent, appointed by the state board of 
education, and under a county board of directors, vested with large 
powers for the location of schools, for defining the limits of sub- 
districts, and electing teachers. One section of the bill which caused 
the Southerners great annoyance read as follows : ^^ 

Be it enacted. That all children of the state between the ages of five and 
twenty-one shall have, in all respects, equal advantages in the public schools, 

-" House Journal, 1870, H. B. 352. 
*' Laws of 1870, Chap. I, Sect. 49. 



12 Public Schools in Mississippi 

And it shall be the duty of the school directors of any district to establish an 
additional school in any sub-district thereof, whenever the parents or guardi- 
ans of twenty-five children of legal school age, and who reside within the 
limits of the sub-districts, shall make written application to said board for 
the establishment of the same. 

The bill originated in the House, and it was here that the first 
fight was made upon this objectionable section. Its enemies inter- 
preted this to mean that the school directors might, or might not, 
establish mixed schools, as they saw fit. Thomas S. Maxey, of 
Rankin, submitted a minority report ^^ of the Educational Com- 
mittee which had reported favorably upon the bill, declaring that 
the law should make the establishment of separate schools manda- 
tory, "and thereby give the children of the tax-payers of the state, 
the benefit of an institution which they are compelled to maintain." 
In this, Maxey was voicing the opinion of a large majority of the 
southern white people, not only Democrats but also Republicans. 
Governor Alcorn, a Republican in politics but a Southerner in sym- 
pathy, had previously advised, in a special message,^^ that the legis- 
lature "bring to the subject that earnest spirit of justice to both 
races which demands that the schools be kept absolutely separate." 

When the bill reached the Senate the fight was renewed upon the 
mixed-school feature. On June 28, Lieutenant-Governor R. C. 
Powers found it necessary to take the floor personally in its defense.^^ 
His treatment of the subject indicated, at least so far as he was con- 
cerned, that the carpet-baggers now had no intention to force white 
and colored children into the same schools, unless the people so de- 
sired it. His point of view may be seen in the following excerpt from 
his speech : 

The provisions of this bill are wise in this respect, for while it recognizes 
no class distinctions (which of itself should render any law odious in a repub- 
lican government), it nevertheless consults the convenience and meets all 
the reasonable demands of the people, by providing for the establishment of 
an additional school or schools, in any sub-district where the parents or 
guardians of twenty-five or more children desire it. 

This leaves the details of the law where they rightly belong — and where 
they can be readily arranged, and all conflicting interests harmonized — with 

^'^ House Journal, 1870, p. 402. 

23 Ibid., Appendix, 1870, pp. 12-20. 

"^^ Senate Journal, 1870, p. 436. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 13 

the people. If the people desire to provide separate schools for white and 
black, or for good and bad children, or for large and small, or for male and 
female, there is nothing in this law that prohibits it. The widest latitude is 
granted, and certainly no class of children in the state can be said to be 
excluded from school advantages by any provision of the bill. 

The lieutenant-governor seems to have been honest in this ex- 
pression. He failed, however, to take into consideration the depth 
of prejudice which had been aroused against the government of 
'mongrelism', and which made the Southerners suspicious of the 
political element that had overthrown them. So far as the harmony 
of the several elements of the Republican party was concerned, his 
stand was politic, but it would have gone far to allay the suspicion 
of the southern whites, had he declared himself positively in favor 
of separate schools. For some time Southerners remained out of 
sympathy with the school system because they did not know at 
what time the carpet-baggers might try to force mixed schools 
upon them. 

Not until the Reconstruction ofificers had begun to perfect the 
plans for the new system did it dawn upon the Southerners that 
the mixed school idea had been definitely abandoned. The Hinds 
County Gazette in November, 1870, stated r^^ 

We have no idea that the new Board [of Directors of Hinds County] will 
attempt the great crime of forcing a mixture of the races in the county. 

The Mississippi Educational Journal, organized as the mouthpiece 
of the State Department of Education in February of the next 
year, says:^^ 

Since the 'bugbear' of mixed schools for the races which was raised for an 
evil purpose by the enemies of the system, has been completely demolished, 
and the purpose of the law and its construction have come to be properly 
understood, the popular mind has taken hold of the subject with ardent 
enthusiasm. 

Yet, in the discussion of the Civil Rights Bill in Congress, a speech 
of John R. Lynch " (colored) of Mississippi indicates that the mixed 
school question had not been completely disposed of, even in 1875. 

The question which concerned the southern Democrats perhaps 
even more vitally than the mixed school issue was the question of 

^5 Hinds County Gazette, November g, 1870. 

2« Mississippi Educational Journal, February, 1870, p. 5. 

*' Weekly Pilot, February 20, 1875. 



14 Public Schools in Mississippi 

taxation for the support of the schools. Lynch, in his recently pub- 
lished book, The Facts of Reconstructio?i,^^ admits that the storm of 
protest that went up from the tax-payers when they heard the 
demands that would be made upon them by the school system, was 
not without good cause. But he adds, "The Constitution called for 
the establishment of the system, and of course it had to be done." 

As an example of the intensity of feeling upon the subject I will 
quote, "the most distinguished and widely known school man in 
the State," Thomas S. Gathright. When, in October, 1870, he was 
called upon for an expression of opinion on the new school law, he 
said in part: ^^ 

I consider the law referred to, not only a failure in accomplishing good, but 
an unmitigated outrage upon the rights and liberties of the white people of 
the state. 

I will cite Noxubee County, for an example. The tax to build school- 
houses will be $40,000, and not twenty-five white children in the county can 
be benefited, while the colored population pay almost no part of this tax. 
I exhort the friends of our southern children to pay the tax, and then to send 
their children to their own private schools. 

The storm of protest against the obnoxious system of taxation 
continued well into the next year. It was clearly the chief cause 
of the 'ku klux' outrages in the eastern counties in 1871. Since tax 
levies were mainly for the benefit of the schools, the wrath of this 
mysterious organization was directed against them. Other reasons 
for the hostility of the order toward the school system have been 
assigned, but clearly the cause which provoked the outbreak was 
the expense of the system. Both majority ^° and minority ^^ reports 
of the committee of Congress which investigated these outrages 
confirm the truth of the above statement.^^ 

Hostility to immigrant teachers who were supposed to be teach- 
ing the Negroes doctrines of social equality and hatred of southern 
whites still continued. The reports of the 'ku klux' investigating 
committee bring out this point. Colonel A. P. Huggins, county 
superintendent of Monroe County, was beaten and driven from the 

28 Lynch: The Facts of Reconstruction (1913), pp. 34, 50, 51. 
2' Hinds County Gazette, October 12, 1870. 

reunited States Congress: Report of the Committee on Affairs in the Late Insurrec- 
tionary States, p. 75. 
3» Ibid., p. 289. 
'= c/.. p. 37. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 15 

county because he was the 'instrument' for collecting the taxes, and 
because the schools which he organized were being taught by for- 
eign teachers suspected of teaching social equality. 

Excerpts from contemporary newspapers set forth the southern 
attitude toward northern teachers. The Hinds County Gazette 
quotes a prominent daily as follows: ^^ 

We have it on good authority that the public school teachers imported from 
the North into several of the counties, are Radical emissaries in disguise, 
who not only insiduously inculcate the political creed of that party, but are 
propagandists of its social equality doctrines. 

The same paper a month later quotes Horace Greeley's eulogy 
of the 'Yankee school marm' and makes the following comment:^* 

The 'school marm' finds her level in the association and the embrace of 
those that she regards as her equal in every respect. We pity the southern 
negro, Mr. Greeley, and by no means, the 'school marm'. 

The fact that northern white teachers were practically ostracized 
by the Southerners, and in many places were unable to secure board 
in white families, probably accounts for their being generally mis- 
understood by the southern white people.^^ Since they were thus 
forced to associate to a great extent with Negroes, their motives 
quite reasonably fell under the suspicion of Southerners unused to 
such intimacy with the colored race.^^ 

I have undertaken thus far in this section to locate the causes for 
the hostility of the southern people to the public school system. 
The chief ground for opposition was undoubtedly the expense of 
establishment and maintenance, an expense to be met by taxation 
of property owners who had no representation. A second cause for 
opposition may be found in the fear that mixed schools would be 
established; and a third, in the character of the teachers that were 
placed in charge of the schools. We may add finally that there was 
also opposition, perhaps not so extensive as has been thought, to 
the education of the Negro. 

Northerners seem to have thought that the southern people 
wished to keep the Negro in ignorance in order to keep him in sub- 
's Hinds County Gazette, March 15, 1871, quotes the Daily Clarion. 
'^ Mr. Greeley made a visit to Mississippi in 1871 and wrote his impressions in the 

New York Tribune. Hinds County Gazette, April 26, 1871. 
'* Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 359. 
*' Publications, Mississippi Historical Society, vol. xiii, p. 258. 



1 6 Public Schools in Mississippi 

jection.^^ This was doubtless a mistaken judgment since this opinion 
found expression nowhere in the contemporary southern papers I 
have examined. Whenever the school system was criticised, 
usually the education of the Negro was opposed on other grounds 
previously mentioned. 

The fact that southern teachers were frequently advised to 
teach in Negro schools, and the fact that a number of them did teach 
in such schools,^* is evidence that southern people did not so much 
object to the education of the Negro as they did to the means by 
which the carpet-baggers were providing it. It was not the public 
school system that fell under their disfavor, but the abuses which 
grew out of it. 

The Attitude of the Negro toward Education. The Negroes readily 
listened to the northern immigrants who came among them to 
teach them how to employ their newly acquired freedom. They 
seemed to regard the public schools as institutions established for 
their benefit in particular, and, as long as they were a factor in 
politics, watched jealously after the interests of the system.^^ The 
presence among the immigrants of a considerable number of edu- 
cated Negroes, early pressing forward into the places of leadership 
in the state, furnished living examples of what education could do. 
James Lynch, H. R. Revels, and T. W. Cardoza were among the 
most prominent Negroes in the state, and each of them took a lively 
interest in education. The Gazette (1870-1871) repeatedly referred 
to the 'school ring' consisting of the state superintendent, the county 
superintendents, and Lynch, secretary of state and ex-officio member 

3'' Mississippi Educational Journal, February, 1871, p. 28. 

3' Historians who have covered this era refer to the fact that prominent southern gen- 
tlemen and refined southern ladies of good families frequently taught Negro 
schools. Poverty seems to have driven most of such people to this means of mak- 
ing a livelihood. Garner reports several cases, among which he mentions, a school 
conducted by the Chancellor of the State University. Superintendent J. H. Alex- 
ander of Attala County reported to the State Department in 1872 that several of 
the "most worthy citizens of the white race were prevailed upon to engage as teach- 
ers for this class." The Mississippi Educational Journal (1871) pointed with pride 
to the fact that "in several counties there are ladies employed in colored schools, 
who a year ago would have thought such employment in the highest sense dis- 
graceful." The 'ku klux' investigating committee called attention to several in- 
stances. On the whole, however, the teaching of Negro schools does not seem to 
have been very general on the part of southern people. The few instances seem 
to have attracted attention because of their rarity. 

8' Hinds County Gazette, October 18, 1876; January 28, 1878; October 26, 1881. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 17 

of the Board of Education. Revels was the first Negro to sit in the 
United States Senate, and later became president of Alcorn Uni- 
versity. Cardoza was the second state superintendent. Negro 
leaders uniformly advocated public education. 

The Negroes generally seemed to favor mixed schools as the 
means of securing equal advantages with the whites. In the Con- 
stitutional Convention (1868) they were almost unanimously in favor 
of tabling the several amendments which proposed the establishment 
of separate schools.^" When the mixed school proposition was agi- 
tated in the United States Congress in 1875, in connection with the 
Civil Rights Bill, John R. Lynch, Negro representative from Mis- 
sissippi, stated the position of the Negroes as follows :^^ 

My opinion is that the passage of this bill just as it passed the Senate, will 
bring mixed schools only in localities where one or the other of the two 
races is small in numbers, and that in localities where both races are large 
in numbers, separate institutions of learning will continue to exist, for a 
number of years at least. 

He then went on to say that Negroes did not so much wish to get 
into the white schools as to make sure that there would be no dis- 
crimination against them on account of color. Yet the adoption of 
his principle would have made mixed schools well nigh universal in 
the rural districts of Mississippi. 

Among the masses of the Negroes, eagerness for education during 
the Freedmen's Bureau era was at times fairly general, but seemed 
to decline as they became more and more interested in politics.'*- 
Night schools numbering seventy-six in 1868 declined to eleven the 
next year; day schools declined from ninety-eight to seventy, and 
the enrolment in the schools fell off about a third. Under the 
Reconstruction regime efforts to secure the passage of a compulsory 
education law^^ seem to indicate that the masses were not taking 
advantage of the opportunities furnished them by the school 
system. 

The Attitude of the Northern Whites toward Negro Education. The 
carpet-baggers, generally speaking, were of the opinion that all 
that was needed to place the Negro on an equal footing with the 

" Daily Clarion, April 8, i868. 

^' Weekly Pilot, January 20, 1875. (Lynch's speech quoted in full.) 

" See page 23. 

" See page 46. 



1 8 Public Schools in Mississippi 

white race, was education. Holding to the Socratic dictum that 
"knowledge is virtue," they believed that public instruction would 
cure all the ills of society, physical, mental, and moral. R. C. 
Powers, one of the most able of their leaders, in his campaign for 
the lieutenant-governorship in 1869 gave his keynote as follows:^"* 
"The Negro is a dangerous element in society because he is ignorant. 
Remove the ignorance and there is no more cause for fear." 

They were unable to understand the tradition which had bound 
the southern people to private rather than public education. They 
had the impression that the southern aristocracy had willfully kept 
the Negroes and poor whites in ignorance in order to keep the one 
in slavery, and the other in political subserviency. The Educational 
Journal bears out this statement when it declares that ignorance 
was responsible for the deplorable condition of the country, as well 
as the direct cause of the secession: 

The ignorant and illiterate voters throughout the state, and especially 
where they were in the majority, as in the case of the poorer counties, were 
the main strength of the secession, and the only class that could be success- 
fully duped into a willful war against the government.^^ 

They could not understand the position of the Southerner, who, 
unused to heavy taxes in the days of his prosperity, raised strenu- 
ous objection to a vexatious burden laid upon him by alien hands 
in the days of his adversity. If the Southerner complained, the 
carpet-baggers assigned as reasons, hostility to the public school 
system, and jealousy of the political leverage which the advocacy 
of popular education had secured for the Republican party.^^ 

The northern immigrants were mistaken in believing that they 
could transplant bodily a northern institution in southern soil and 
make it grow at once. Their experience in educational affairs had 
been secured in older and more populous states into which the race 
question had not entered. The consequence of their error was to 
array the old southern element solidly against them on the ques- 
tions of maintenance, mixed schools, foreign teachers, and social 
doctrines. 

In their favor we may say that a large number of them were 
earnest, conscientious, and animated by high philanthropic motives. 

'^* Vigksburg Daily Times, October 28, 1869. 

*^ Mississippi Educational Journal, February, 187 1, p. 28. 

^^ Ibid., February, 1871, p. 5. 



Attitude Toward Negro Education 19 

When, at the end of the first year of the organization of the pubHc 
schools, the machinery was found too expensive, Superintendent 
Pease ^^ was one of the first to advise a change. Governor Powers ^^ 
later advised local ofificers to be economical and spend less on build- 
ings and furniture. It is hard to believe that the 'Yankee school 
marms' who faced ostracism from their race in coming to the South, 
were not of the stufT that martyrs are made of. 

*'' House Journal, 1873, p. 729. 
^'Senate Journal, 1873, p. 11. 



CHAPTER III 
EDUCATIONAL NUCLEUS FORMED BEFORE 1870 

In the last chapter we saw that the tax-payers were considerably 
aroused over the prospect of heavy taxes for the support of the 
school system. To better comprehend the size of the undertaking, 
and the amount needed to begin operations, it is necessary to make 
a hasty survey of the educational situation at that time. Questions 
which naturally suggest themselves in this connection are: What 
material equipment was there to begin with? What had been done 
before 1870 in the way of organizing, grading, and supervising the 
schools? An attempt to answer these questions will be made in 
the succeeding pages of this chapter. 

The Ante-bellum School System. It is not within the scope of this 
treatise to give a detailed account of the ante-bellum school system, 
yet a word should be dropped to inform the reader that the state 
had, prior to 1865, at least recognized the principle of popular edu- 
cation by taking certain very definite steps toward the organization 
of a system of public schools.^ When the state came into the Union 
in 181 7, it was provided by an act of Congress that the sixteenth 
section of every township should be reserved for school purposes. 
Popular education was further aided by the creation of the Literary 
Fund in 1821. The sixteenth sections were, by acts of the legisla- 
ture in 1833 and 1836,^ turned over to township trustees to be 
leased to the highest bidders, for a period of ninety-nine years. The 
trustees were permitted to accept in payment promissory notes on 
personal security, and, as a consequence of this lax management, 
most of the sixteenth sections were never paid for. Thus the greater 
part of the school fund was dissipated before any steps had been 
taken toward the organization of a school system. 

A general school law, passed in March, 1846, proved to be defec- 
tive, and was later rendered almost useless by privileged local 

1 Mayes : History of Education in Mississippi; The Progress of Education in Missis- 

sippi; chapters on Education in Memoirs of Mississippi. 

2 Laws of 1833, p. 452; Laws of 1835. 



Educational Nucleus Formed Before iSyo 21 

legislation. Schools were established and received public support, 
but very little was done toward perfecting the organization of the 
school system before the Civil War. 

The Constitutional Convention of 1865, controlled by native 
whites, did not modify the article on education which had been 
written into the constitution of 1832.^ This was a vague and rather 
indefinite statement giving the sanction of the state to the princi- 
ple of popular education. It did not forbid the education of Negroes, 
yet made no special provision for it. 

The legislature, called to meet in the fall of 1865, was too busy 
defining the political and economic relations of the two races to pay 
much attention to education. Several acts with reference to the 
collection or to the investigation of county school funds were 
passed. These acts, together with an act which modified the appren- 
ticeship law ^ governing the binding out of the children of freedmen, 
constitute the sum total of the legislation with respect to education. 
The next legislature, which was also a southern organization, seems 
to have done nothing worthy of notice. 

In this connection we should not fall to take into account the 
practical training for the actual duties of life which took place upon 
almost all southern plantations before the Civil War. Planters 
quite generally selected certain laborers and had them trained In the 
ordinary trades, such as carpentry, blacksmithlng, etc. Then also 
the conduct of the slaves was regulated to a large extent by the mas- 
ters. Such training, while not partaking of the character of literary 
instruction, was no less potent in shaping the life of the ante-bellum 
Negro. ^ 

If anything in the way of material equipment had been provided 
before 1870 we may be sure It amounted to very little. With re- 
spect to this point, John R. Lynch says: ^ "There was not a public 
school building anywhere In the state except in a few of the larger 
towns, and they, with possibly a few exceptions, were greatly in 

'Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1865, Article VIII, Section 14. 

* The apprenticeship law of 1829 (Laws of 1829, p. 179), governing the binding out of 
the children of free Negroes, did not require the master to teach the apprentice any- 
thing except the 'business or occupation'. The later law (Laws of 1865, Chap. V) 
did require the master to see that the apprentice was taught to read and write. 
This seems to represent a fundamental change of attitude in the southern whites. 

^ Weatherf ord : Negro Life iyt the South, p. 88. 

^ Lynch: The Facts of Reconstruction, p. 34. 



22 Public Schools in Mississippi 

need of repairs. To erect the necessary school houses and to re- 
construct and repair those already in existence so as to afford edu- 
cational facilities for both races was by no means an easy task." 

For the whites, the educational nucleus consisted largely of the 
ante-bellum academies and private schools' which had survived the 
devastation of war and poverty. The state superintendent in his 
first report ^ (1871) accounts for 381 private white schools with 
391 teachers and 5,249 pupils. At the same time he reports the 
existence of 53 private colored schools with 49 colored teachers and 
1,454 pupils. These latter were largely maintained by northern 
mission societies and philanthropic organizations. 

Activities of the Freedmen's Bureau. In November, 1862, General 
Grant found it necessary to take some action in order to prevent 
the large number of Negroes who had attached themselves to his 
army from seriously embarrassing his commissary.^ Accordingly, 
he appointed Chaplain John Eaton as superintendent of Negro 
affairs in his department, with instructions to "set them to work 
picking, ginning, and baling all cotton now out and ungathered in 
the field." Representatives of the various religious and philan- 
thropic organizations followed in the wake of the invading army 
to assist in the education as well as the relief of the Negroes. The 
Society of Friends, the American Missionary Association, and the 
Western Freedmen's Aid Commission were the first in the field. ^ 
The Freedmen's Department (as it was then called) received orders 
September 26, 1863, to aid these representatives with transporta- 
tion, rations, and places in which to teach. Beyond giving advice 
in regard to the distribution of teachers and the location of schools, 
the superintendent of the department exercised no control over 
their activities. Complications soon arose among the societies. 
Some central authority was necessary to insure regularity of tuition 
fees, and uniformity in other matters of administration.^" General 
Eaton, September 26, 1864, was authorized to designate certain 
officers as superintendents of colored schools, and the department 
assumed general supervision of the educational work. ^p^^ 

' Report of Superintendent, 187 1, Statistics. .^m^'^^ 

* P. S. Pierce: The Freedmen's Bureau, p. 9. Grant's claim to having first initiated 

work for the freedmen does injustice to the claims of Generals Butler, Wool, and 

Sherman, who worked independently about the same time. 
' Eaton: Grant, Lincoln and the Freedmen, Chap. XIV. 
1" Ihid. 



Educational Nucleus Formed Before 1870 23 

An act of Congress, July 16, 1866, enlarged the powers of the 
Bureau for educational purposes. The work heretofore accom- 
plished had been done without the authorization of Congress. ^^ 
Funds for teachers, books, and the furnishing of buildings had been 
derived from the rent of abandoned property. This act also author- 
ized cooperation with private benevolent societies. An appropria- 
tion of $500,000 in 1867, and still another appropriation in 1868, 
materially aided the work of the Bureau. 

The Bureau did extensive work in Mississippi until 1870. The 
work was at first conducted under the supervision of Rev. Joseph 
Warren, and after his removal in the latter part of 1866,^2 i^ was car- 
ried on by Captain H. R. Pease, who later became state superin- 
tendent.^^ An idea of the scope and progress of the undertaking 
may be had by an examination of the statistical summary here 
given. 

There was at first "inveterate opposition" to the work of the 
Bureau on the part of the southern white people. This opposition 
manifested itself in threatening teachers and in preventing the 
agents of the Bureau from securing places to teach. It had disap- 
peared to a large extent by the spring of 1867, but the report of the 
inspector, January i, 1868, seems to indicate that opposition had 
revived. In one section this turn of public sentiment was attributed 
to the "recent so-called radical reaction in the North." " The politi- 
cal situation in the state was no doubt in large measure responsible 
for the change. 

At first the Negroes showed the "usual eagerness to learn," but 
attendance in the schools seems throughout the whole period to 
have been very irregular.* Cotton picking probably interfered with 
the attendance in the fall. The excitement of the triumphant entry 
of the Negro element into state politics caused a decided slump in 
the attendance in 1869 and 1870.^^ A constant falling ofif in the 
number of night schools established for adults, indicates that the 
interest of the Negroes had waned considerably. General Superin- 
tendent Alvord in 1868 estimated that one colored child of school 

" P. S. Pierce: The Frcedmen's Bureau, p. 76. 
'2 Inspector's Report, Januarj' i, 1867, p. 17. 
^* Ibid., June 30, 1867, p. 33. 
" Ibid., January i, 1868, p. 34. 
" Ibid., January i, 1870, p. 35. 



24 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



age out of every fifteen was enrolled in the schools. ^^ This was the 
lowest ratio of all southern states. 

The organization of Sunday schools was first begun by southern 
citizens in the spring of 1866.^^ The nature of the instruction offered 
in freedmen's schools appears not to have produced the moral 
results which had been expected by the Bureau. ^^ An effort was 
made to remedy this situation in 1868 by the organization of 

TABULAR VIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE FREEDMEN's 
BUREAU IN MISSISSIPPI, 1866-1870 

{Compiled from the Semi-Annual Reports of the Inspector) 





1866 


1867 


1868 


1869 


1870 




Jan- 
uary 


July 


Janu- 
ary 


July 


Jan- 
uary 


July 


Janu- 
ary 


July 


Janu- 
ary 


Night schools 






20 


76 


29 


13 


II 


16 


Day schools 








46 


56 


98 


79 


70 


56 


Both 


34 


50 


42 


66 


132 


127 


92 


81 


72 


White teachers 








73 




83 


60 


65 


61 


Colored teachers 








9 




45 


40 


40 


29 


Both 




80 




82 




128 


100 


105 


90 


Enrolment 




5,407 


2,129 


4-697 




6,253 


4,003 


4,344 


3,475 


Average attendance 








3,549 






3,062 


3,361 


2,586 


Sabbath schools 






21 












45 


White pupils 












51 


24 


47 


7 



temperance societies; thirty societies were organized that year. 
The laxness of the domestic relations of the sexes was another 
problem which vexed the Bureau. On the subject of looseness of 
morals, Superintendent Pease had this to say in 1869:^^ "There 
has not been the advancement in the moral condition of the freed 
people, commensurate with their education and general intelligence." 
Accordingly, he began to wage a campaign for temperance and 
purity, making addresses in various parts of the state. He also 
took pains to discipline immoral teachers, 

" Inspector's Report, January i, 1868, p. 47. 

" Ibid., July I, 1866, p. 7. 

1* Ibid., January i, 1869, p. 29. 

^^ Ibid., January i, 1869, p. 29. 



Educational Nucleus Formed Before 1870 25 

The Bureau officials, particularly in the early days of the organiza- 
tion, manifested great confidence in the ability of letters and book- 
learning to function in the lives of the Negroes.^" After a year or 
two of experience, however, they came to acknowledge the impor- 
tance of training, both manual and moral, and to emphasize — at 
least in theory — this form of education. 

Instruction in the early days was of course very elementary. 
"Education for the freedmen," says the first semi-annual Report of 
the Inspector,^^ "as a whole, must be at first very rudimentary, in 
which the text will be found mainly in the spelling book, but which 
can become, as soon as possible, universal." In the second Report ^^ 
we find a similar statement: "With the Bible, spelling-book, and 
freedom as the basis of instruction, the poorest teaching is better 
than the present ignorance." 

Day schools were organized for children, and night schools for 
adults, but we have no evidence that children received one form of 
instruction and adults another. In 1868, there were 2,710 pupils 
studying "spelling and easy reading." Needle-work, introduced in 
1868, appears to have been the only form of manual work taught 
in the schools, and even this does not seem to have been very popu- 
lar. The highest enrolment in this subject was reached in 1869 
when 154 pupils were being trained, but during the next year the 
number dropped to thirty-four. 

Two aims of education were formulated in 1869 by the Bureau: ^^ 

First. Moral culture should be paramount in our plans; the conscious 
practical aim in all our schools . . . 

Second. The various affairs and economies of everyday life should be 
taught; cleanliness, dress, home habits, social proprieties, uses of furniture, 
preparation of food, and tasteful construction of buildings, though with rustic 
materials; also industry, and individual self-reliance; labor productive of 
support and thrift; habits of saving, with the right use of what is saved. 

It was further suggested that industrial science and art be 
brought into the higher schools, and that music and temperance be 
taught. The activities of the Bureau were discontinued before any 
attempt was made to put these theories into practice. Here, how- 

2" Inspector's Report, January i, 1866, p. i. 

21 Ibid., p. 12. 

^•^ Ibid., July I, 1866. 

"^^ Ibid., July I, 1869. 



26 Public Schools in Mississippi 

ever, were laid down the principles which have been worked out in 
such schools as Hampton, Tuskegee, and Tougaloo. 

There were several contributions which the Freedmen's Bureau 
made to Negro education in Mississippi. 

First, the schools served to awaken the Negroes to the need of 
education. 

Second, they gave rudimentary instruction to a considerable 
number of Negroes, thus partially fitting them to become teachers in 
the public schools. The Freedmen's Bureau pupils were beginning 
to teach in 1869.-^ 

Third, the Bureau prepared the ground for the organization of 
the public school system. The state had been divided into twenty- 
one sub-districts ^^ and an effort had been made to establish schools 
in every part of the state, so there were doubtless few, if any, 
places so remote that the Negroes had not heard of the advantages 
to be derived from education. 

Fourth, the Bureau provided a centralized scheme of organiza- 
tion which could easily be taken over by the state authorities. Mr. 
Pease in 1870 said: "In all the principal cities and towns the schools 
are thoroughly classified, graded, and conducted by earnest, thor- 
ough and practical teachers." ^^ The experience which this gentle- 
man had gained from managing the affairs of the Bureau made him 
possibly the best man that the Republicans could have selected to 
inaugurate the new school system. When he assumed the duties 
of state superintendent, he still retained his position with the 
Bureau. ^^ 

Fifth, the Bureau left material equipment in the form of buildings 
and furniture which could be utilized. While there are only twelve 
school buildings reported as owned by freedmen in 1870, a consider- 
able number of rented buildings had been furnished by the Bureau. 

The Peahody Fund. The Peabody Fund was created in February, 
1867, for the benefit of the cause of education in the southern states. 
The first distribution of the fund was made in 1868. Nine towns 
and one private institute were aided with small amounts this year.^^ 

^* Inspector's Report, July i, 1869, p. 44. 

^^ Ibid., July I, 1868, p. 34. 

2^ Ibid., January i, 1870, p. 35. 

2' Ibid., p. 29. 

2^ Proceedings, Peabody Fund, 1868, p. 108. 



Educational Nucleus Formed Before i8yo 27 

So far as can be determined, the donations to these towns were for 
the benefit of white schools. In 1869, on account of the uncertain 
political situation in the state, only six towns were aided. 

In the Peabody report for 1868, it is interesting to note that there 
were 3,000 children of school age in the city of Vicksburg, one-half 
of whom were colored, and that there were 1,130 colored children in 
school. The town was given two thousand dollars on condition that 
it enlarge its corps of teachers so as to "admit all white children that 
apply." 2^ The Negro pupils here referred to were doubtless in Freed- 
men's Bureau schools. 

From the information which we have at hand it appears that the 
public school system had to be built from the ground up. Not only 
did buildings have to be erected, but a working organization had 
to be provided, and teachers had to be imported to meet the de- 
mands made for properly qualified instructors in both white and 
colored schools. Such was the situation that faced the Reconstruc- 
tion government in the spring of 1870. 

"'Proceedings, Peabody Fund, 1868, p. 108. 



CHAPTER IV 
EDUCATION DURING THE RECONSTRUCTION 

The Organization of the System. The constitution of 1869 was 
drafted by the famous 'Black and Tan Convention', dominated by 
the carpet-bag and Negro elements. In this convention the former 
slave holders formed a hopeless minority. On February 3, 1868, 
the Committee on Public Education made a unanimous report on 
the provision for education, which, with a few minor amendments, 
was adopted almost as proposed.^ 

The legislature was authorized to establish a uniform system of 
free public schools for the benefit of all children between the ages 
of five and twenty-one, and to establish schools of higher grade as 
soon as practicable.^ The system was placed under the supervision 
of a state superintendent,^ to be elected by the people at the same 
time and in the same manner as the governor, for a four-year term. 
There was also to be a state board of education,^ consisting of the 
state superintendent, the secretary of state, and the attorney general, 
vested with the management of the school funds and with such 
other authority as should be prescribed by law. The state superin- 
tendent was empowered to appoint county superintendents for two- 
year terms.^ He was further authorized to report to the legislature 
within twenty days after its first session, a uniform system of free 
public schools.^ 

A school fund was provided ^ by the setting aside of the following: 
(i) Funds derived from swamp lands granted to the state for school 
purposes (with certain exceptions) ; (2) funds derived from the 
lands vested in the state by escheat, purchase, or forfeiture for 
taxes; (3) fines collected for the breach of penal laws, and all 

1 Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1865, p. 148. 

* Constitution of 1869, Article VIII, Section i. 

2 Ibid., Section 2. 

* Ibid., Section 3. 
^ Ibid., Section 4. 

* Ibid., Section 5. 
' Ibid., Section 6. 



Education During the Reconstruction 29 

moneys received for licenses granted for tlie sale of intoxicating 
liquors; (4) all moneys paid as an equivalent for exemption from 
military duty, funds arising from the consolidation of the township 
funds, and moneys donated to the state for school purposes. The 
school fund was to be invested in United States bonds. It might be 
increased but not diminished. The interest was to be inviolably ap- 
propriated to the public schools. A poll tax of two dollars for 
school purposes was made permissive. The fund was to be dis- 
bursed to the counties on the basis of the number of children of 
school age. 

During the debate on the article on education, two provisions 
were made the points of attack. The first was the section allowing 
the state superintendent to appoint the county superintendents.^ 
After a spirited debate, it was decided to make the ofifice appointive, 
but to empower the legislature to make it elective. The storm 
center, however, hovered about the question whether or not the 
constitution should make one set of schools accommodate both 
races. From the nature of the discussion, which has been given 
elsewhere in this treatise, it is clear that the framers of the con- 
stitution favored mixed schools. When they said, "A school shall 
be maintained in each school district at least four months in the 
year . . ." ^ they certainly regarded the district as the smallest 
unit of organization, and possibly only the shrewdest of their 
number anticipated the later definition of the term as a county com- 
prehending a number of sub-districts. 

Other sections of the article on education were accepted by the 
members of the convention with little discussion. The sections 
chiefly objected to by the southern press were Section 5, relating to 
mixed schools, and Section 10, which empowered the legislature to 
levy and collect such taxes as were needed to maintain the school 
system. The constitution, drafted by this convention was ratified 
by the electorate, that is, by the Negro and carpet-bag element, 
December i, 1869. 

In the spring of 1870, the officers elected under the new con- 
stitution took their seats. Honorable J. L. Alcorn, a southern 
leader who had turned Republican under the persuasion that the 
best interests of the state would be subserved by pursuing a policy 

* Constitution of 1869, Article VIII, Section 4. 

• Ibid., Section 5. 



30 Public Schools in Mississippi 

of conciliation, was installed as governor. In his inaugural address 
he declared himself strongly in favor of the establishment of a 
system of common schools for the benefit of the "poor white and 
colored children of the state who had been permitted in the past 
to grow up like wild flowers." A special message on education,^" 
shortly after his installation, outlined a plan for the organization of 
the school system. First, he asserted that the most imperative need 
of the state was that of trained teachers. To provide for this need 
he recommended the appropriation of $20,000 for the purchase of 
Tougaloo University, a Negro school belonging to the American 
Missionary Association, to be used for a state normal and agricul- 
tural school for the colored race. He believed that there should be 
a normal school for each race but that the colored normal was most 
urgent at this time. The governor's plan for the organization of 
the system was derived from a study of the New York and Penn- 
sylvania systems. Two points for which he stood emphatically 
were separate schools for the races, and local election or appoint- 
ment of county superintendents. On these points the legislature 
differed with him. In regard to the launching of the system, he 
favored a gradual up-building which would not tax too heavily the 
impoverished tax-payers. 

As we have seen, the constitution had erected the framework 
about which the system was to be built when it had provided for a 
state school fund, had established the state board of education, 
had created the elective office of state superintendent, and had de- 
creed that county superintendents should be appointed by the 
state department unless other provision were made. The legal 
status of the system was further defined by the legislature on July 4, 
1870. 

At the head of the system was the state board of education " 
with general supervision over all school funds, empowered to appoint 
county superintendents with the confirmation of the Senate, and to 
remove these officers for incompetency or neglect of duty. The 
state superintendent ^^ was made the chief administrative officer. 
He was given general supervision of the system, required to pre- 
scribe rules for organization, decide disputes, solicit reports from 

1" House Journal, Appendix, pp. 12-20. 

" Laws of 1870, Chap. I, Sections i, 12, 13. 

12 Ibid., Section 14. 



Education During the Reconstruction 3 1 

state institutions, visit schools, and provide for the holding of teach- 
ers' institutes in each congressional district. 

The county was made the unit of local organization.'^ A board of 
six school directors,'^ appointed by the county board of supervisors 
to represent the several supervisors' districts, were delegated with 
the functions of local administration. The directors were appointed 
for a three-year period of service, their terms expiring at different 
times. They were to receive mileage and a per diem of three dollars 
for actual service. They were vested with corporate powers, and 
also empowered to form sub-districts, to fix the boundaries of these 
to suit the convenience of the people, to purchase grounds and erect 
buildings, to establish union or graded schools wherever necessary, 
to prescribe texts, to hire teachers, and to furnish the board of 
supervisors with an estimate of the cost of school sites, construction 
and rental of buildings, repairs, fuel, etc. 

The county superintendent ^^ was the administrative officer of 
the school district. Besides being given general supervision of the 
schools of the county, he was required to examine and certificate 
teachers, to report to the state department annually on the condi- 
tion of the schools, school lands, etc., to report to the state auditor 
the enumeration of the educable children, and to perform such other 
duties as should be specified by the state department. He was to 
receive a per diem of five dollars for actual service. 

The system of education was to be established and maintained 
largely by local taxation. It is true that a state school fund had 
been provided for by the constitution, but since the amount of 
available funds embraced by this was small, a tax was necessary to 
furnish the means for equipping and supporting the schools. The 
boards of directors were authorized by law to furnish the county 
boards of supervisors with an estimate ^^ of the funds needed to run 
the schools of the district, and the supervisors were required to levy a 
tax on the property of the county to meet this expense. Taxes thus 

"Laws of 1870, Chap. I, Section 2. 

" In towns of 5,000 and over, the boards of aldermen appointed the directors of the 
separate district, selecting representatives, as far as possible, from the several 
wards. Such boards were given the same powers as county directors. Since, how- 
ever, there were less than half a dozen towns of this class, at this time, we need not 
consider the separate district in this connection (Section 23). 

"Laws of 1870, Chap. I, Section 19. 

1^ Ibid., Sections 27, 32. 



32 Public Schools in Mississippi 

levied were to be kept separate from the state apportionment. It 
was provided also that there should be separate levies for a school- 
house fund and for a teachers' fund. The maximum levy for the 
schoolhouse fund was fixed at ten mills, and the maximum levy for 
the teachers' fund at five mills. 

The Operation of the System. I. The public school system, legally 
organized in July, 1870, went into operation in the fall of that year 
under the leadership of State Superintendent H. R. Pease. ^^ The 
law required that county superintendents should be appointed by 
the state department, and that the county school directors should 
be appointed by the county boards of supervisors. As no election 
of county and local officers ^^ was held until November, 1871, the 
duty of appointing the county supervisors devolved upon the 
military governor. General Ames. The appointees were in most 
cases Republicans, 'scalawags', if not Negroes and carpet-baggers. 
Thus, the local units were permitted to take no hand in the initiation 
of the system. The loss of the right to determine the personnel of 
the boards of directors was of graver consequence than the loss of 
the right to elect the county superintendents. The directors had 
the power of establishing schools, fixing the boundaries of sub-dis- 
tricts, erecting and equipping buildings, and fixing the amount of 
the tax levy. The southern whites, who constituted the tax-payers, 
were given no voice in determining how much they should be taxed. 

There was good reason for a highly centralized organization for 
the installation of the system. Centralization insured the estab- 
lishment of schools in all counties; it provided for a sufficient tax 
levy to maintain the schools; it saw that the Negroes were not 
overlooked. On the other hand, it vested the power of raising local 
funds in the hands of men who were not required to share the bur- 
dens which they imposed; who, in many cases, had lived only a 
short time in the state, and consequently had little appreciation of 
the difficulty the southern whites were having in trying to adjust 
themselves to the new economic situation; who often belonged to 
the less worthy class of immigrants, with no experience in the 

1' Henry R. Pease, a native of Connecticut, a Federal captain, and later agent of the 
Freedmen's Bureau. It devolved upon him to organize the public school system. 
His competency has never been questioned. He stepped from the state superinten- 
dency into the United States Senate. Rowland's Mississippi. 

^' Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 357. 



Education During the Reconstruction 33 

affairs of government, and with the selfish exploitation of the 
country too often as their only excuse for being there. The evils 
bred by this plan of organization were legion. Misunderstandings 
arose where none should have existed; injustice was done when 
none was intended; lack of sympathy was at first well nigh uni- 
versal; fraud and corruption were not infrequent. 

The expense of establishing schools, even under ordinary circum- 
stances, falls heavily upon the tax-payers. Under the demoralized 
economic circumstances of the period, it was felt with crushing 
effect. The machinery had been borrowed from older, richer, and 
more populous states, and was consequently too expensive for 
Mississippi. The six county directors drew a per diem of three dol- 
lars, and mileage at ten cents a mile; the circuit clerk drew a per 
diem of three dollars for acting as secretary of the board of directors; 
the superintendent drew a per diem of five dollars; and the boards 
of supervisors, to whom the directors had to report their estimate 
of the levy for schools, drew six dollars and mileage for each of 
their six members. This complicated machinery was not only 
expensive but unnecessary. It cost the state during the second 
year, $100,000, of which the state superintendent says $50,000 
was "absolutely thrown away." ^^ 

Superintendent Pease recognized ^^ at the close of the first year 
that the cost of the schools was far exceeding his expectations. 
The chief fault was with the machinery for local administration. 
"The experience of the last twelve months," says he, "shows that 
notwithstanding we have succeeded in establishing a large number 
of schools, the work has been accomplished at the expense of an 
enormous and unnecessary outlay of labor and money." The zeal 
of the local officers in founding schools, in building school houses, 
and in levying taxes for maintenance, carried them to an extreme 
which staggered even the Reconstruction leaders. Governor Powers 
in 1873 urged 2^ that the school funds be spent mainly for teachers, 
and that less be spent on "costly houses, expensive boards of man- 
agers, and elaborate outfits." 

1' House Journal, 1873, p. 729. 

2" .Superintendent's Report, 1871, p. 16. 

21 Senate Journal, 1873, p. n. 



34 Public Schools in Mississippi 

The following figures from the report of the state superintendent^^ 
will give an idea of the accomplishment and cost of the first year's 
work: 



Schoolhouses built for whites 


230 


Schoolhouses built for Negroes 


252 


Sites purchased 


128 


Sites donated 


177 


Cost of school sites 


$33-921 


Cost of school buildings 


157.374 


Rent of schoolhouses 


25,601 


Contingent expenses, fuel, etc. 


20,731 


School furniture 


34,861 


Apparatus 


5406 


School books 


14,481 


Average monthly salary of teachers 


58.90 


Salaries of county superintendents 


35.072 


Total salaries of teachers 


624,233 


Total cost of boards of directors 


58,000 



The number of schools put into operation the first year was 3,450, 
and the value of school property was estimated at $800,000.^^ The 
number of sites that were purchased cost on the average about 
$265; and the houses erected on these sites cost on the average 
$325. The number of buildings erected for Negroes was slightly 
more than the number erected for whites. Expenditures, as a 
whole, were not excessive as figures run to-day, but considering the 
impoverished condition of the country at that time, they fell rather 
heavily. 

As we have seen, schoolhouses had to be built and furnished and 
teachers had to be paid from the local revenue. It is true that 
there was a state school fund of $1,950,000, but it existed only in 
name, and the schools received no benefit from it.^'* The raising of 
the state tax levy from one mill in 1869 to five mills in 1870, while 
not for the benefit of the schools, increased the sum total of the 
taxes, and tended to augment discontent with the whole system of 
taxation. To make matters worse, a law was passed which changed 

2* Superintendent's Report, 1871, Statistics. 
2' This estimate is probably excessive. 
^^Superintendent's Report, 1871. 



Education During the Reconstruction 35 

the date for the collection of taxes. The levy for the past year, due 
in April, was suspended till July. The new levy was made to fall 
due in December.^^ This made two levies fall due within six months. 
And to cap the climax, the cotton crop of 1870 was a failure, and 
there was nothing with which to pay. 

The expense of establishing Negro schools was heavy. Although 
the Freedmen's Bureau had left a slight equipment, it was by no 
means adequate. The log cabin had been considered good enough for 
the Negro's home and church before the war, but the northern enthu- 
siasts were now insisting that frame school buildings be constructed 
and equipped with patented desks and other modern furnishings. 
The Gazette complains ^^ of the lavish expenditures for "fine walnut 
desks, cane seat chairs, elegant settles," etc., and adds this inter- 
esting datum: "In all the history of this community the school 
children have supplied each for himself his own desk, chair, etc., 
and they have been of such styles as could be furnished from the 
household goods. The white schools of the town [Raymond] and 
vicinity are thus furnished now." The southern whites generally 
viewed the purchase of fine furniture with suspicion and alarm.^^ 

Cause for additional expense was provided in the fact that there 
were no colored teachers. For the 860 schools for Negroes in 1871 
there were 400 Negro teachers. White teachers had to be secured 
for over half of these schools. Southern whites did not take to 
the profession in numbers sufficient to man the Negro schools.^^ 
Hence, northern teachers had to be imported, and since a term of 
four months with low salaries would not furnish remuneration suf- 
ficient to attract this class of teachers, the monthly salaries had to 
be raised. The average monthly salary for 1871 was $58.90. There 
is no record that teachers of Negro schools for this period received 
less than teachers of white schools. 

The local officials had little sympathy with the tax-payer strug- 
gling with the new economic situation. They launched at once 
upon the installation of the school system with little regard to 
costs. It is estimated that the cost of the schools of Chickasaw 
County for 1871, if the Reconstructionists had been permitted to 

25 United States Congress: Report of Committee on Affairs in Southern States, p. 373. 
2' Hinds County Gazette, February i, 187 1. 

*^ United States Congress: Report of Committee on Affairs in Southern States, 1872. 
2* See page 16. 



2,6 Public Schools in Mississippi 

carry out their program, would have amounted to $120,000 for 
teachers and $100,000 for schoolhouses.^^ In Lowndes County, 
where the Negro children outnumbered the white children four to 
one, sixty public schools were opened and teachers were employed at 
salaries ranging from $50 to $150 per month, the average being $78.^° 
A special tax of $95,000 was levied by the supervisors, but upon pro- 
test this was cut to half the amount. These examples are typical. 

It is quite natural that charges of fraud and corruption would 
be brought by the tax-payers, since they had no hand in making 
the levies. In many cases these charges were well founded. Mr. 
James Sykes, a prominent citizen of Lowndes County, testified ^^ 
before the 'ku klux' investigating committee that a tax of $3,800 
was levied upon the sub-district in which he lived, to support two 
schools. Upon investigation, he found that the county had been 
charged with $360 for rent, fuel, and repairs on an old church which 
he had built for his Negroes before the war, and for which no rent 
had been charged, and no repairs made. In Washington County, 
J. P. Ball, a mulatto photographer from Cincinnati, was chairman 
of the board of supervisors, and his son was clerk of the school 
board.^2 Young Ball was in 1873 voted $1,700 for stationery. 
Seven hundred dollars was voted for a schoolhouse at Leota which 
was never erected. McNeily, whose article in the Publications of 
the Mississippi Historical Society is in part a primary source, states: 
"All over the state the robbery through the school system was 
especially rank." In 1871, the Brandon Republicans^ declared, 
"The manner in which the School Boards of some counties are swin- 
dling the people, is enough to drive them mad . . ." 

The arbitrary demands of the Reconstructionists were no sooner 
felt than there sprang up violent opposition to the school system. 
In the eastern counties of the state this opposition found expression 
in 'ku klux' raids in which schoolhouses were burned and obnoxious 
teachers driven from the country. Both majority and minority 
reports of the committee of Congress which investigated these out- 

2' United States Congress: Report of Committee on Affairs in Southern States, 1872, 

P- 377. 
*" Ibid., 1872, Minority Report. 
31 Ibid., 1872. 

22 Publications of Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. IX, p. 150. 
33 Hinds County Gazette, March 22, 1871, quoted. 



Education During the Reconstruction 37 

rages, while differing in point of view, gave as the unmistakable 
cause of the trouble, hostility to the school system. This hostility 
was, in the main, due to the excessive tax levies which had been laid 
upon the people. The majority report emphasized also the fact 
that there was "hostility to all free schools, and especially to free 
schools for colored children."^* Both intimate that there was oppo- 
sition to colored schools and northern emissaries. 

Upon reading the reports of the 'ku klux' investigating committee, 
one is forced to the conclusion that no one of the causes mentioned, 
except that of the heavy tax levy, was sufficient to provoke an out- 
break. This is perfectly clear in the testimony of the two chief 
witnesses. Colonel H. P. Huggins and Charles Baskerville. Opposi- 
tion to the schools on the ground that they were instructing Negroes 
and instilling in them doctrines of social equality, is given as 
a clearly incidental cause. Garner makes ^^ the pertinent observa- 
tion that since both white and colored schools were burned and 
closed, and since both ex-Union and ex-Confederate teachers were 
victims, opposition was directed not against the public school system 
per se, but against its abuses. 

The 'ku klux' outrages seem to have been confined to the eastern 
counties of the state, so far as they affected the school system in 
1870-1871. Superintendent Huggins of Monroe County was 
whipped, chiefly on the charge that he was the 'instrument' for 
collecting the taxes. Two school directors of the same county, who 
had voted to levy the tax, were warned to resign, and did so. The 
teachers of twenty-six schools on the east side of the Tombigbee 
River w^ere similarly forced to close their schools. Cornelius McBride, 
teacher of a Negro school in Chickasaw County, was whipped on 
the charge that he was teaching one of the expensive schools main- 
tained by the Radicals. All the schoolhouses in Winston County 
were burned in March, 1871, and all the churches in which Negro 
schools were being maintained.^^ Outrages were reported from 
Monroe, Noxubee, Chickasaw, Winston, and Pontotoc Counties. 

There were doubtless outrages in other parts of the state, but 
they cannot be definitely traced to the 'ku klux'. For instance, 
three colored schoolhouses in Hinds County were burned in the 

'■I United States Congress: Report of Committee on AiTairs in Southern States, p. 73. 

'5 Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 360. 

^^ Mississippi Educational Journal, March, 1871, p. 131. 



38 Public Schools in Mississippi 

spring of 1871, but it is not recorded that the 'ku klux' had anything 
to do with the burning.^^ 

The chief ground for opposition to the school system was not 
the education of the Negro, as many people think, but the cost of 
maintaining an expensive system at a time when the southern people 
were least able to support it. This fact, combined with the fact 
that the tax-payers were deprived of the right to say what expendi- 
tures should be made, caused widespread discontent. The Hinds 
County Gazette (i 870-1 871) repeatedly referred to the 'school ring', 
composed of Lynch, Pease, and the county superintendents, as an 
organization to defraud the people. This paper declared itself in 
favor of universal education and popular taxation, but strenuously 
objected to the abuses of the administration under the Recon- 
structionists.^^ 

A forecast of this form of opposition may be found in a joint 
protest of six state senators against the Public School Bill in 1870. 
This protest was directed against a system of taxation so burden- 
some "as to excite in their [the people's] minds a strong prejudice 
against the establishment of public schools." ^^ Mayes says that 
the school system was regarded as a system of taxation without 
representation, "imposed by adventurers and plunderers rather 
for the purpose of riveting their fetters on the people of the state, 
than for any humanitarian purpose."^" 

We must, however, credit some of the state officers of the Recon- 
struction period with honest intentions. Alcorn ^^ was from the 
first opposed to an expensive outlay for schools ; Pease ^^ discov- 
ered the error in the organization of the local machinery at the 
close of the first year, and got a bill to remedy the situation reported 
favorably in the House in 1871 ; Powers, ^^ when he became governor 
in 1873, advised against heavy taxation for buildings and furniture. 
The fault seems to have lain largely with the local administration. 

" Mississippi Educational Journal, p. 88. 

" Hinds County Gazette, February 22, 1871. 

'' Senate Journal, 1870, p. 445. 

*^ Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II, p. 338 (Goodspeed's edition). 

^' House Journal, Appendix, 1870, pp. 12-20; Mississippi Educational Journal, March, 

1871. 
*^ House Journal, 1873, p. 715. 
"Senate Journal, 1873, p. 11. 



Education During the Reconstruction 



39 



II. A vigorous campaign for the establishment of schools was 
launched by State Superintendent Pease and his co-laborers as 
soon as the school bill was approved in July, 1870. The state 
superintendent was undoubtedly a capable and energetic worker. 
The schools established were classified as primary, grammar, high, 
and mixed-grade schools. (See Table I) The mixed-grade school 
was the institution that best served the needs of the rural commu- 

TABLE I 

ENROLMENT AND ATTENDANCE IN WHITE AND COLORED 
SCHOOLS, 187O-187I 



{Compiled from Report 0, 


f State Superintendent, 1871) 






WHITE 


COLORED 




Schools 


Enrolment 


Schools 


Enrolment 


Primary schools 
Grammar schools 
High schools 
Mixed grade schools 
Total 


535 

400 

78 

729 

1,739'' 


18,312 
14,423 
5,045 
24,577 
66,257 *< 


603 

51 

4 

202 

860 « 


26,303 

2,641 

640 

12,370 

45,429" 



nities; the primary school was practically all that was needed for 
Negroes at this stage of their educational progress. Only four high 
schools were established for Negroes, and only a third as many 
mixed-grade colored schools as primary. No effort to mingle the 
races in the schools seems to have been made. Only two mixed 
schools were reported this year, or ever after. 

It will be observed from a study of Table II that the number of 
educable colored children in 1871 outnumbered the educable 
whites nearly 7,000. The white schools enrolled a larger proportion 
than did the colored, but the average daily attendance of the Negroes 
was greater than that of the whites. 

■" The author is not responsible for errors in the computing of totals. The corrected 
totals for the above are: White schools, 1,742; enrolment, 62,357. Colored enrol- 
ment, 41,954. 



40 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



By 1872 the opposition to public schools had to some extent sim- 
mered down. Superintendent Pease reported to the United States 
Commissioner in this year that public sentiment had undergone a 
"most marvelous revolution." *^ The 'ku klux' activities of the previ- 
ous year died out completely. There were still a few who opposed 
the general principle of taxation for public schools. These "fossil 

TABLE II 



SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLMENT, AND AVERAGE 
ATTENDANCE, 187O-187I 

{Compiled from Report of State Superintendent, 1870-187 1) 



White 



Colored 



Children, five to twenty-one years 

Enrolled in schools 

Per cent, of children enrolled 

Average attendance 

Per cent, of those enrolled in average attendance 



120,073 


126,769 


66,257 


45,429 


55-2 « 


35-9 


45,290 


36,040 


744^« 


79-3 



theorists," as Mr. Pease called them, objected especially to paying 
taxes for the support of Negro schools.*^ 

As for the Negroes, they were heartily in favor of heavy taxes 
for schools. The Superintendent argued that they, as the indus- 
trial class, received indirectly the burden of taxation, and conse- 
quently should have the deciding voice in determining what tax, 
and how much, should be levied. It is needless to say that there 
were few, if any southern tax-payers, who could follow this line 
of reasoning. 

If the voices of criticism raised against the school system had 
subsided as much as the state superintendent says they had, we 
may imagine that the silence was, to say the least, grim. The 
financial condition of the state had gone from bad to worse. Mis- 

*^ Computed by the author. 

^' United States Commissioner's Report, 1872, p. 197. 

*' Ibid., 1873, p. 213. 



Education During the Reconstruction 41 

management and extravagance in the Reconstruction government 
continued until the state was on the verge of bankruptcy long before 
1875. In two years, from 1870 to 1872, the indebtedness of the 
state more than doubled.^^ Lack of credit abroad began at once 
to be felt. State funds were invested in state warrants which were 
forced upon the people as the medium of circulation. Speculation 
in these by state officials caused them rapidly to depreciate in 
value.^^ The assessed valuation of real property decreased from 
$118,000,000 in 1870 to $109,000,000 in 1874; personal property 
decreased in value from $59,000,000 to $47,000,000 during the same 
period. By 1876, real property had fallen to $95,097,450, and per- 
sonal property to $35,000,000.^" 

The perilous condition of the finances of the state was repeatedly 
pointed out, but the policy of extravagance was continued. Heavy 
taxes were levied to meet the heavy expenditures of the state's 
governmental machinery. The state tax levy rose from one mill 
in 1869 to fourteen mills in 1874.^^ County tax levies were piled 
upon this. In one county in 1874 the total tax levy amounted to 
twenty-three and two-tenths mills. Such levies were confiscatory. 
This astounding statement comes from the auditor of public accounts 
in 1874:^2 

The state now holds not less than 4,500,000 acres of land forfeited for 
taxes. In addition to this, the several Levee Boards in the Levee Districts, 
hold 1,500,000 acres more, on which the state tax was suspended. This 
makes an aggregate of 6,000,000 acres, or one-fifth of the entire area of the 
state. 

The school fund suffered in common with other state funds. 
During the five years from 1870 to 1874, there were placed to the 
credit of the school fund $1,057,929, and disbursed only $342,052.^^ 
This should have left a balance to the credit of the fund of $715,877. 
According to the constitution, this money should have been invested 
in United States bonds, but instead, it had been invested in state 
warrants which had been cancelled.^'' From this large sum, only 

*^ Report of State Treasurer, 1872, p. 4. 

" Ibid., 1873. p. 5- 

"> State Auditor's Report, 1876, p. v. 

" Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi, p. 323, (table). 

^'^ Auditor of Public Accounts, 1874, p. 7. 

" Report of State Treasurer, 1874, Statement E. 

" Auditor of Public Accounts, 1874, p. 6. 



42 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



$66,617 was invested as had been directed. When the southern 
people again took charge of the government there was left in the 
treasury to the credit of the school fund a balance of $60,920.21. 
This amount was increased by the addition of $104,009.60 from fines, 
forfeitures, and licenses, permitted by the laws of 1876, making a 
total of $164,935.87, or fifty-two cents for each educable child.^^ 
These figures are sufficient to indicate the deplorable condition of 
school funds during the Reconstruction era. 

The expensive program of organization, begun in 1871, was car- 
ried on more extravagantly the next year. The following table, 
compiled from the reports of the state superintendent for these 
years, gives an idea of the cost of organization. 





1871 


1872 


1874 


Buildings and repairs 


$157,347 


1176,917 


fo5,059 


Mileage and per diem of directors 


58,ooo(est.) 


70,000 




Salaries of county superintendents 


35,072 




46,000 


Total cost of county officers 


93,072" 


145,000 




Total salaries of teachers 


624,233 


584,536 


737,548 


Average monthly salaries of teachers 


58.90 


51-32 




Total costs 


950,000 


976,553 


842,603 



During the second year 432 additional schoolhouses were built; 
the total number of schools increased from 3,450 to 4,650 (thirty- 
five per cent.), and the number of teachers increased from 3,193 to 
4,800 (fifty per cent.). As is evident from the figures in the table, the 
boards of directors furnished one of the heaviest items of expense. The 
complaints of the tax-payers were both loud and deep. The gov- 
ernor and the state superintendent exerted themselves to find a 
remedy for the situation. ^^ 

The local machinery, in addition to being expensive, was far from 
harmonious. The duties of the directors conflicted with those of the 
county superintendent.^^ "Efforts to avoid too much centralization 

'^Auditor of Public Accounts, 1876, p. v. 

^^ Computed from second and third items above. 

'^ The superintendent had had his measure reported favorably by the House Committee 

on Education in 1872. See also Message of Governor Powers, January 21, 1873. 
"United States Commissioner's Report, 1873, p. 213. 



Education During the Reconstruction 43 

resulted in the opposite extreme." Superintendent Pease declared 
that a sweeping reorganization of the system was necessary in order 
to make it fit the conditions of the time. At the meeting of the 
legislature in 1873 the reorganization was accomplished.^^ 

1. The county boards of directors were done away with, and their 
powers were placed largely in the hands of the boards of supervisors. 

2. The powers of the county superintendent were extended; he 
was required to visit schools and to devote his whole time to the 
ofifice. He received in compensation for his services a fixed salary 
instead of a per diera.^'^ 

3. The plan of taxation was changed. The teachers' fund, which 
had been levied by the counties, was made a state tax. The amount 
of the levy was fixed at four mills, and the fund was to be distributed 
to the counties in proportion to the number of educable children. 

4. Local trustees were to be elected by a mass meeting of the 
patrons of the school district. They were given power to hire 
teachers, to look after the building, and to arbitrate between pupils 
and teacher. 

5. Schools were to be classified as First Grade and Second Grade 
by the county superintendent. The monthly salaries of teachers of 
the second-grade schools were to be not less than $35 nor more than 
$60. Teachers of first-grade schools were to receive not less than 
$60, nor more than $75, except in the case of principals of schools 
of three or more teachers. 

The Curriculum. The Reconstructionists were firmly of the opin- 
ion that the abolition of illiteracy was the only sure road to a 
strong and healthy body politic. Hence the means adopted for the 
improvement of the social status of the 'poor white' and Negro races 
was the generally accepted traditional curriculum of the day. The 
'common English branches' formed the basis of the course. In the 
higher schools, rhetoric, Latin, astronomy, and algebra were the 
chief studies.^^ 

The only thing regarding the curriculum that can be learned 
from the law creating the public school system, is that the Bible 

" Acts of 1873, Chap. I. 

*" This salary varied from $300 per annum in Greene County to $1,800 in Hinds and 

Warren. The next legislature found it necessary to cut this schedule considerably. 
*- Since there has been almost no public education of secondary grade for Negroes in 

Mississippi, the elementary curriculum alone will be examined here. 



44 Public Schools i?t Mississippi 

should not be excluded from the schools.^^ The same provision 
was retained when the laws were recodified by the southern whites 
in 1878. 

According to the Acts of 1873^^ second-grade schools should 
teach orthography, reading, penmanship, English grammar, geog- 
raphy, and the rudiments of arithmetic; and first-grade schools, in 
addition to the foregoing subjects, should teach United States his- 
tory and English composition. Despite the law requiring counties 
to adopt uniform texts, a large variety of text-books found their 
way into the schools. Superintendent Cardoza in 1875 reported *^^ 
an interesting list of the books being used in one of the counties. 
It may well be given in full : 

Spellers — Webster's, Union, and Holmes'. 
Readers — Wilson's, McGuffey's, Sanders', and Holmes'. 
Geographies — Mitchell's, Murray's, and Monteith's. 
Histories — Anderson's, Quackenbos', Goodrich's, and Holmes'. 
Grammars — Smith's, Butler's, Kerl's, Ingraham's, and Pinnee's. 
Arithmetics — Davies', Robinson's, and Venable's. 

Several of these texts continued in use until well along into the 
nineties. There were frequent complaints and numerous changes. 
Anderson's History in particular was a mark for criticism.^^ It was 
claimed that this book gave the northern version of the cause of 
the Civil War, and that the white children were being taught to 
turn against the principles of their fathers. 

Public oral examination of the pupils by citizens of the community 
was a feature of the day in both white and colored schools. A 
'Conservative' writing of one such examination at the colored school 
at Dry Grove, gives the following account :^^ 

The exercises began with the singing of a hymn by the children, followed 
by the reading of a chapter from the Bible, and prayer by a colored preacher. 
Several of the white neighbors were present, and two of them conducted the 
examination by invitation of the head of the school. The children were 
'put through' a course of spelling, in which the competition was very inter- 
esting and exciting to the spectators. They were examined on the elements 

^2 Laws of 1870, Chap. I, Section 50. 

"Acts of 1873, Chap. I, Section 22. 

" Report of Superintendent, 1875, p. 5. 

^5 Hinds County Gazette, March 22, 1871, quotes the Senatobia Times. 

«« Ibid., July 5, 1876. 



Education During the Reconstruction 45 

of arithmetic, and geography. The result of the examination was a pleasant 
surprise to all present. 

The southern people were suspicious of northern teachers, par- 
ticularly those who were employed in Negro schools. These teachers 
were frequently charged with teaching the Negroes false political 
creeds, and doctrines of social equality." Such charges were fre- 
quent when the schools were first being organized. The Gazette 
humorously reported also the rumor that the Hinds County super- 
intendent would require all children to use the 'Yankee intonation'.*'^ 

State Superintendent Gathright, upon assuming the duties of 
his office, immediately after the carpet-bag government had been 
dethroned, issued a circular to county superintendents, giving the 
views of the new administration on the subject of Negro education.*^ 
With respect to the aims to be accomplished he said: 

Impress your teachers with the duty of instructing the colored children in 
the obligations they owe to society, and the responsibility imposed upon each 
individual of the community to maintain good morals and good order. 

We find here expressed, in part, the end to be accomplished in 
Negro schools as seen from the standpoint of a representative 
southern white man. I do not think the Reconstructionists would 
have expressed it differently, and possibly the means employed to 
accomplish social improvement under both regimes differed very 
little. I imagine that teachers under the new administration con- 
tinued using the same texts and teaching morals as they had 
learned them from their fathers, the political point of view in each 
case making very little difference. 

Cardoza's Administration. Thomas W. Cardoza, a Negro already 
under indictment for embezzlement, succeeded Superintendent 
Pease as head of the school system in 1873. In the several reports 
issued during the period of his incumbency he called attention to 
the growing sentiment in favor of public schools. These reports, 
however, abound with references to disturbances in the school sys- 
tem. The revised school code had met in some degree the protests 
against the expensive machinery of administration, but it had bred 
a multitude of ills that had not been foreseen. Boards of super- 
s' Hinds County Gazette, March 15, 1871, quotes the Jackson Clarion. 
8* Ibid., June 26, 187 1. 
*' The Brookhaven Ledger, May 4, 1876. 



46 Public ScJwols in Mississippi 

visors, into whose hands had fallen a large share of the duties 
formerly assigned to the boards of directors, sometimes refused to 
levy taxes for the salary of the county superintendents and for 
school purposes.^" Sometimes they assumed the duty of selecting 
texts. Local trustees insisted upon appointing teachers, and fur- 
nished "endless turmoil" in other ways.'^^ County superintendents 
were thwarted in their efforts to administer the affairs in their 
counties; besides the pay in some counties was so small that 
properly equipped men could not be secured for the place; a bill 
carrying some Republican following was introduced in the Senate 
in 1875, which proposed to abolish the office altogether,''^ This 
restlessness and discontent was a forecast of the gathering storm 
which was soon to sweep the Republicans out of power. 

The superintendent's plan to meet these disorders lay in greater 
centralization. He opposed efforts of the legislature to make the 
office of county superintendent elective.''^ Instead, he favored ex- 
tending the powers of superintendents, so as to allow them to appoint 
teachers and select texts. In 1874, he proposed a system of dis- 
trict superintendents to take the place of county superintendents 
in sparsely settled sections of the state, which officers should have 
supervision over areas larger than the county. ^^ 

In this connection it might be well to mention certain efforts 
that were being made to have a compulsory education law passed. 
Superintendent Pease had devoted sixteen pages of his report in 
1872 to a discussion of what he called "obligatory education." ^^ 
He began his discussion with the statement that out of 400,000 
educable children in the state, only 200,000 were in the schools. It 
is hard to determine from his treatment of the subject whether the 
children out of school belonged to aristocratic, poor white, or Negro 
families, but he seems to have had reference mainly to the poor 
white children. 

Governor Adelbert Ames in 1874 recommended that compulsory 
education be studied with a view to legislative action.''^ Cardoza 

'" Superintendent's Report, 1876, p. 28. 

" Ibid., 1874, p. 9. 

" Weekly Pilot, January 16, 1875. 

'' Superintendent's Report, 1874, p. 6. 

"United States Commissioner's Report, 1874, p. 229. 

''^ House Journal, 1873, p. 740. 

" Inaugural Address, 1874. 



Education During the Reconstruction 47 

also favored the suggestion. In fact, the Rcconstructionists seem 
to have been fairly of one mind on the subject. The Weekly Pilot,'''' 
their chief political organ, declared in favor of it. John R, Lynch 
in a speech in Congress, endorsing the Civil Rights Bill, argued in 
favor of the compulsory education clause. ''^ 

" Weekly Pilot, March 6, 1875. 
''^ Ibid., February 20, 1875. 



CHAPTER V 

EDUCATION UNDER SOUTHERN RULE 

I 876-1 i 



Overturning the Republican Government. In the elections of the 
fall of 1875, the Democrats secured control of the legislature and 
in the spring of the next year they proceeded to overturn the entire 
Republican regime. On February 11, 1876, impeachment charges 
were preferred against State Superintendent Cardoza and other state 
officials/ including Governor Ames. Cardoza was charged among 
other things with having violated his oath when he assumed office 
under indictment for embezzlement, and with having misappro- 
priated funds belonging to the normal department of Tougaloo Uni- 
versity. Rather than face the charges Cardoza resigned from office, 
March 22, 1876. On April 4, Governor Stone appointed Thomas S. 
Gathright, a southern private schoolmaster, to fill the vacancy. 

The Reconstruction government left the finances of the state in 
a pitiable condition.^ The treasury had been drained, the country 
had been flooded with state securities worth scarcely fifty cents on 
the dollar, and the credit abroad had been sadly impaired. A policy 
of rigid economy and retrenchment had to be adopted. The school 
laws, passed by the legislature of 1876, had in view the curtailment 
of expenses. They certainly did not have in view the wrecking of 
the public school system and the abandonment of Negro education. 
Yet, as a result of these laws, the efficiency of the system was greatly 
reduced. The salaries of county superintendents were cut to a 
fifth of the schedule adopted in 1874;^ and the salaries of teachers 
were fixed at figures considerably lower than they had been.* Teach- 
ers in schools with an average daily attendance of twenty-five or 
more pupils were to receive a maximum of $45 a month; teachers 

1 Mississippi Impeachment Trials. The caption of the present chapter was adopted 
in order to draw a sharp distinction between the Reconstruction government and 
the new government which was more truly representative of the southern population. 

^ See page 41. 

'Laws of Mississippi, 1876, Chap. CXIII, Section i. 

* Ibid., Section 2. 



Education Utider Southern Rule, 1S76-1886 49 

in schools with a smaller average attendance were to receive a maxi- 
mum of eight cents per day for each pupil in actual attendance. It 
was specifically stated that state and county school funds should 
be used for no purposes other than the salaries of teachers and 
county superintendents.^ No fund was provided for the building 
of schoolhouscs. Every school in the county was to have equal 
claim upon the school funds so far as they went.^ This provision 
effectually prevented any effort that might be made to run the 
white schools for longer terms and with higher salaried teachers 
than were provided for the Negro schools. 

The school bill was one of the most important measures that came 
before the legislature at this meeting. The Democratic press seems 
to have endorsed the action which was taken. The Gazette stated 
that compromises had to be made in order to get the bill passed, 
but that it insured a better and cheaper school system, and "perfect 
equality of privileges and rights as between the races." ^ The Re- 
publicans, however, declared that the Democrats had destroyed 
the schools.^ 

Abundant proof that the Democrats did not have in mind the 
destruction of the school system is furnished in the statement of 
the Democratic leader. General J. Z. George, issued in an open 
letter in September, 1876.^ He said: 

If there is any one thing which the Democrats and Conservatives of this 
state are more determined to carry out than another, it is to provide the 
means of educating every child in the state, of whatever race or color. The 
people of Mississippi have suffered enough already from ignorance and its 
consequences, blind prejudices in governmental affairs, and they will not 
refuse to use any means in their power to remove them. 

In this connection we might quote Governor Stone's sentiment, 
as expressed in his inaugural address, 1877:^° 

Our prosperity and greatness as a state, and happiness as a people, depend 
upon free and liberal education of the youth of both races. 

Superintendent Gathright laid a vigorous hand upon the duties 
of his office. On April 25 he sent out a circular of instructions to 

^ Laws of Mississippi, Chap. CXIII, Section 3. 

' Ibid., Section 5. 

' Hinds County Gazette, February 22, 1876; April 26. 

^ Ibid., October 18, 1876. 

9 Ibid. 

" Message, 1877, p. 11. 



50 Public Schools in Mississippi 

the county superintendents.^^ These officers were RepubHcan 
appointees. He told them candidly that he would act upon their 
resignations in case they did not care to perform the duties of their 
office on the new salary schedule. He explained that the cut in the 
salaries of superintendents and teachers was necessary. He bade 
them to be rigid in the examination of teachers, and to insist that 
teachers devote at least six hours a day to school duties. In respect 
to the education of the Negro he expressed himself in no uncertain 
terms : 

The state superintendent is impressed with the conviction that our high- 
est duty to the state, to humanity, and to posterity lies in this field. Be 
careful about the teachers you certify to these people. They should have good 
teachers and good teaching. It would be very gratifying to see our young 
men and young women, who have been well raised and carefully educated, 
and who are seeking employment, give themselves to work, the rewards of 
which will be the same in money as in the white schools, with the additional 
compensation of contributing to the calls of a pure philanthropy. 

The future of this country depends largely upon the future of the colored 
population, and the common schools are, and must be, the means of their 
elevation as they are the hope of this people. Impress your teachers with 
the duty of instructing the colored children in the obligations they owe to 
society, and the responsibility imposed upon each individual of the com- 
munity to maintain good morals and good order. 

Mr. Gathright did not remain in office long enough to carry out 
the program which he outlined. In the summer of the same year 
in which he received his appointment, he was called to the presi- 
dency of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College.^' He was 
succeeded by Dr. Joseph Bardwell (September i, 1876), a "gentle- 
man of intelligence and refinement, peculiarly fitted for the posi- 
tion." ^^ 

The laws of 1876 badly crippled the school system, yet they did 
much to place it upon a cash basis. State warrants which had for- 
merly been issued to teachers, now rose from below fifty cents on 
the dollar almost to par value. ^^ The loss in efficiency caused by 
reducing the salaries of county superintendents was felt at once. 

'1 The Brookhaven Ledger, May 4, 1876. 
12 Weekly Clarion, April 3, 1878. 
1' Message of Governor Stone, 1877. 
^* Governor's Message, January 8, 1878. 



Education Under Southern Rule, 1876-1886 51 

The next year, Superintendent Bardwell recommended that these 
salaries be increased, and that the superintendents be required to 
visit and inspect the schools. ^^ He further recommended that the 
salaries of teachers be based upon the grade of certificate — the plan 
used by the Reconstructionists — in order that first-grade teachers 
might earn more than the legal maximum of $45 a month. The next 
legislature, however, seems to have taken no cognizance of these 
recommendations except to permit ten 'black counties' to pay the 
teachers in schools with enrolments less than twenty-five, a monthly 
salary of $40.^^ 

Opposition to the school system seems almost to have died out 
by this time. Superintendent Bardwell reported to the United 
States Commissioner of Education in 1876 that the disorders which 
had attended the establishment of the school system had passed 
away, and that "the benefit of an educated rather than an ignorant 
laboring class is now realized." ^^ Governor Stone was able to say in 
1878: "In no section of the state is there any opposition to the edu- 
cation of the youth of both races." ^^ The State Teachers' Associa- 
tion in 1877 adopted a resolution of the Committee on Higher Edu- 
cation,^^ which had in view the organization of public high schools 
for the white race, and the articulation of these institutions with the 
elementary schools and the state university. The committee recom- 
mended also that similar schools be established for the Negroes, as 
soon as they were prepared for them. The fact that four of the 
thirty-four members of the association were Negroes seems to indi- 
cate harmony between the races with respect to educational in- 
terests. 

During the period of readjustment the Negro schools were the 
chief sufferers. The number of educable children, between the years 
1876 and 1877, showed a decrease for the white race of 20,000, 
and for the colored race a decrease of 10,000. This decrease was 
probably due to a faulty method of taking the school census, and 
should cause us to make large reservations in the consideration of 
other statistics for this year. The number of children enrolled in 

15 United States Commissioner's Report, 1876-1877, p. xxvii. 

"Laws of 1877, Chap. LXXXV. 

1' United States Commissioner's Report, 1875-1876, p. 222. 

'* Governor's Message, January, 1878. 

" Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1877. 



52 Public Schools in Mississippi 

the white schools showed a substantial increase, but the number in 
colored schools showed a decrease from 90,178 to 76,154, a loss of 
fifteen per cent, in one year. At the same time, the average monthly 
enrolment in colored schools showed a decrease from 68,580 to 
44,627, or nearly thirty per cent.; the number of teachers in these 
schools dropped from 2,109 to 1,459, almost thirty per cent. The 
returns for 1876 represent only sixty-five counties, ten failing to 
report, but the comparison here made — with due reservation for 
faulty methods of computing statistics— indicates that the Negro 
schools were greatly demoralized by the return to power of the 
southern whites.^" This may be accounted for by the fact that 
many northern teachers left the state at this time, leaving many 
schools without teachers. 

The statistics indicate a return to something like normal condi- 
tion in 1878. It took the Negro schools, however, until 1879 to 
get back to the status of 1875 with respect to the number of teach- 
ers. From this date until 1886, statistics for white and colored 
schools moved in parallel lines. 

The Revision of the School Code, 1878. The changes made in the 
laws in 1876 were emergency measures designed chiefly to curtail 
the expenditures of the school system. They furnished a heroic 
remedy, but possibly the best that could be administered under the 
circumstances. As the laws now stood there were many conflicts, 
and a recodification was much needed. The object of the revision 
suggested in 1878 was to collect and codify, rather than to amend, 
the school statutes.^^ 

On January 21, 1878, Representative H. A. Moody, of Panola, 
introduced House Bill No. 177,^^ which with a few modifications 
became a law on March 5. During the discussion in the House there 
is nothing recorded that indicates that the legislature was not as 
zealous for the interests of the Negroes as for the interests of the 
white race. 

The new law preserved in all essential features the organization 
of the school system bequeathed by the Reconstructionists. The 
duties of the school officers were enumerated in detail. The county 
superintendency was continued as an appointive office, and a 

^o See statistical tables, p. 139. 

21 Weekly Clarion, February 20, 1878. 

22 House Journal, 1878. 



Education Under Southern Rule, 1876-1886 53 

new salary schedule set the office upon a more secure basis. The 
remuneration offered, however, was not sufficient to support a man 
devoting his whole time to it.^^ The smallness of the salary did not 
stand in the way of the enumeration of the duties of the office to 
the twenty-second item. 

Other interesting features of the school laws were as follows:^* 

1. Towns of 1,000 inhabitants might be organized into separate districts. 

2. No two schools of the same color were to be located nearer together 
than two and one-half miles, unless there was an impassable barrier between 
them. 

3. In case the state school fund did not amount to $200,000 a year, the 
legislature authorized the appropriation of a sum sufficient to bring the fund 
up to this amount. 

4. A school term of five months was authorized, provided that the county 
tax lev^y to support this did not exceed $7.50 per $1,000. A four-month term 
was mandatory in all counties, but there was no provision made in the case 
of counties in which the maximum tax levy would not support the schools for 
this length of time. 

5. By specifying the duties of all officers in detail, overlapping of authority 
was avoided. For instance, supervisors could no longer select texts. 

6. Counties were forbidden to levy taxes for schoolhouses. 

Two points are especially interesting from the standpoint of 
Negro education. First, separate schools for the races were now 
required by law. Second, no loophole was left whereby county 
officials might discriminate against the Negro by giving a shorter 
term.^^ 

A provision which militated against Negro education was the 
new plan of determining the salaries of teachers. It will be recalled 
that the Reconstruction legislature in 1873 had adopted the plan 
of paying teachers according to the grade of certificate which they 
held. The Democratic legislature in 1876 changed this and based 
the pay of teachers on the average daily attendance of the schools 
in which they taught. The new law combined the two plans. First- 
grade teachers were to be paid eight cents a day for each pupil in 
schools of an average attendance of twenty-five or more; second- 
grade teachers were to be paid six and a half cents for each pupil 

"The following yearly salaries are illustrative: Adams County, $600; Hinds, $400; 

Washington, $350; Greene and Wayne, $45; Pearl, $40. 
2^ Laws of 1878, Chap. XIV, p. 89. 
" Laws of 1878, Chap. XIV, Section 35. 



54 Public Schools in Mississippi 

in schools of this class; and third-grade teachers were to receive 
only five cents a pupil. An elaborate schedule was worked out on 
this plan. 

Such a scheme seems at first entirely equitable. The possibility 
for discrimination against the Negro was offered, however, in the 
fact that county superintendents were permitted to examine teach- 
ers and award certificates. Under these conditions a superinten- 
dent with a small fund to distribute, or one prejudiced against the 
education of the Negro, might award to Negro teachers certificates 
based rather on the amount he wished to pay them than on the 
fitness of the teacher. 

The Burden of Supporting the School System. The burden of 
supporting the school system grew increasingly heavy. Complaints 
were loud and deep.^^ The salaries of teachers were cut in order to 
maintain the mandatory term of four months.^^ Mississippi, in 
common with her sister states of the South, was now going through 
a period of unprecedented depression. The value of realty actually 
decreased 2^ from $95,000,000 in 1876 to $88,500,000 in 1886, a 
loss of $6,500,000; the value of personal property increased from 
$35,700,000 to $40,700,000, a gain of only $5,000,000 in ten years. 
The commonwealth was therefore poorer than when the Reconstruc- 
tionists left the state. 

The school fund in 1886, including moneys received from fines, 
licenses, and forfeitures, amounted to but $335,551.23. As the value 
of property steadily declined, the demands of the schools steadily 
increased. During the eight years between 1876 and 1884 the school 
population increased about twenty-five per cent., if we may rely 
upon the only figures we have, which are approximately correct. 
Further, the enrolment in schools increased from 205,378 in 1878 
to 282,733 in 1886, or about 35 per cent. 

The following excerpt from the Report of the United States 
Commissioner gives an idea of the weight Mississippi was bearing ?S9 

Mississippi with a population of 1,131,597, the school age being five to 
twenty-one, reports $3.65 per capita on average attendance; New Jersey, 
population being 1,131,116, school age being five to eighteen, reports $15.14 
per capita on average attendance. 

26 Hinds County Gazette, January 21, 1878. 

2' Proceedings, Mississippi Teachers Association, 1883. 

28 State Auditor's Reports, 1876, 1886. 

29 United States Commissioner's Report, 1883-1884, p. Ix. 



Education Under Southern Rule, i8y6-i886 55 

Little as this appears to be, the state could do no more. 

Such was the condition in this and other southern states when 
a committee of the Peabody trustees memoriaHzed Congress to give 
national aid toward the education of the Negro in these states.^" 
Business depression, the burden of illiteracy, and the slow recovery 
of the state from the devastation of war and reconstruction, it was 
declared, made even small tax levies exceedingly onerous. 

Was there a tendency of the ruling class to take for themselves 
a larger share of the school funds than in equity fell to their lot? 
We have seen that the laws of 1878 did not permit discrimination 
against the Negro in respect to the length of the school term. There 
was, however, a loophole for discrimination in respect to the salaries 
of teachers. For the decade 1876 to 1886 the reports of the state 
superintendent make no distinction between the salaries of white 
and colored teachers, so statistics throw no light on the subject. 

The narrative reports of the county superintendents furnish only 
slight evidence that discrimination was even desired. The superin- 
tendent of De Soto County admitted ^^ that a few citizens in that 
county opposed the teaching of Negro institutes on the ground that 
the teachers would thereby be improved, and would thus have to 
be awarded higher certificates and larger salaries. That the opposi- 
tion was not pronounced is shown by the fact that the same superin- 
tendent was teaching a Negro institute two months in the year. 

The superintendent of Warren County explained the situation 
in his county as follows :^^ 

There are about ten Negro children to one white going to school in the 
county, while in the city (Vicksburg) there is little difference in the number. 
The proportion of taxes paid by the white and colored citizens of the city 
and county, is as eight to one, about. I am in favor of dividing the school 
funds equally among the races. We receive from all sources $11,000 for 
school purposes; to divide this so that a fund of $5,000 should be for the 
white children, and the same amount for the colored, would give the former 
six or eight months' schooling, and the latter two months. 

These bits of evidence show that the burden of supporting 
schools for Negroes was beginning to make the tax-payers restive. 
The increasing popularity of the public schools for the whites, and 

3" Proceedings, Peabody Fund, vol. ii, p. 270. 

31 Superintendent's Report, 1882-1883, Narrative Report of De Soto County. 

32 Ibid., 1884-1885, Narrative Report of Warren County. 



56 Public Schools in Mississippi 

the consequent demand for funds to bring them to a higher state 
of efficiency, probably contributed to this spirit. 

The Efficiency of the System. The first decade after the return 
to southern rule is characterized by growing popularity of the 
public school system, indicated by the rapid increase in the enrol- 
ment and average attendance in the schools, and by the increase 
in the number of teachers and the number of schools.^^ The progress 
of schools for both races is almost parallel. This rapid growth, 
however, is marked by a very low degree of efficiency. The length 
of term for country schools averaged less than seventy-eight days, 
and for town schools, about one hundred and fifty-five days. A 
four-months' session was divided into two terms, one of which was 
taught in the winter, and the other in mid-summer.^^ The school 
law required that no two schools of the same color should be estab- 
lished nearer together than two and one-half miles, yet, notwith- 
standing this, a larger number of schools were established than 
could be supported by the available funds.^^ Counties had to go 
into debt to meet their obligations and were forced to ask the 
legislature to pass local relief acts. 
/ The efficiency of the county superintendents was of a very low 
order. Few received a salary higher than $300 a year in 1885; 
the maximum annual salary was $1,000 in Adams County, and the 
minimum was $60 in Jones and Quitman.^^ They were of course 
permitted to pursue other vocations in addition to performing the 
duties of their office. Important duties were by law entrusted to 
these officers, but it was not expected that they devote more than 
a small part of their time to them. State Superintendent Smith had 
repeatedly recommended to the legislature that the salary schedule 
be raised, but no substantial increase was made. There was conse- 
quently no supervision, and little inspection worthy of the name.^^ 
The certification of teachers was lax, and often certificates were 
granted to any teacher who needed a place. In consequence 
of laxity and neglect, Negro schools suffered in common with the 
white. 

'3 See statistical tables, p. 139; also Peabody Reports, Vol. Ill, p. 162. 

'* Report of Superintendent, 1886-1887, p. 5. 

36 Ihid., 1886-1887 p. 13. 

^^ Ibid., 1884-1885, Statistics. 

8' Ibid., 1886-1887, p. i; Proceedings, Mississippi Teachers' Association, 1883. 



Education Under Southern Ride, 1876-1886 57 

The Teaching Body. In 1879 five teachers' institutes were held 
in the state, aided by a contribution of $1,000 from the Peabody 
Fund. The Peabody Board continued to aid these institutes until 
1884, when, on account of the repudiation by the state of the Plan- 
ters' Bank bonds, the contribution was withdrawn.^^ The low 
requirements for certification, and the laxity of county superinten- 
dents, had not made for a very high degree of efficiency in teachers. 
The superintendent in 1887 thus summarized the situation: 

Nearly 6,000 teachers are employed annually, and it is safe to say that 
less than 1,000 of these have had any professional training. One thousand 
more come yearly into the schools without one day's experience; while fully 
one-third of the corps are using the vocation as a temporary means of a liveli- 
hood, or a stepping-stone to a more remunerative occupation. ^^ 

There was no normal school for whites, and the chair of pedagogy 
was not established in the university till some years later. White 
teachers could secure professional training only by leaving the 
state or by availing themselves of the meager provisions of the in- 
stitutes. It is true that a few scholarships were provided at George 
Peabody College, but these were revoked in 1884. 

Negro teachers were much better provided for. The Normal De- 
partment of Tougaloo University, maintained by the state since 
1872, was turning out a very high grade of teacher, but the disagree- 

" In George Peabody's first bequest were included bonds of the state of Mississippi, 
issued to the Planters' Bank before the war. Mr. Peabody estimated that the value 
of these bonds on the date of the bequest was eleven hundred thousand dollars. 
Their validity had been confirmed by the legislature and the supreme court of the 
state. The trustees sent a memorial to the Reconstruction legislature, requesting 
payment of bonds and interest. No response of any sort was received (vol. i, pp. 
274, 279). The finance committee of the trustees had the matter continuously in 
their hands from 1871 to 1873, but no aggressive action was taken other than what 
has been mentioned. Mr. T. S. Manning was authorized in 1881 to take the matter 
up with the state authorities, and press for the payment. He was, however, assured 
by Governor Stone that a constitutional amendment, passed in 1876, prohibited 
the settlement of the indebtedness. Notwithstanding this answer. Judge Manning 
presented the matter to the legislature the next year. His memorial was referred 
to the Judiciary Committee, "where it slept." In 1884 he informed the trustees that 
there was not the slightest chance that the state would recognize its obligation, 
and recommended that Mississippi be stricken from the list of beneficiaries of the 
Peabody Fund. Up to this date the state had received nearly $70,000 from the 
fund. The state was unanimously restored to the right to participate in the benefits 
of the trust, October, 1892. 

3^ Superintendent's Report, 1886-1887, p. i. 



58 Public Schools in Mississippi 

ment of the trustees of the normal department with representa- 
tives of the American Missionary Association which controlled the 
university, caused the legislature of 1879 to withhold its appropria- 
tion for two years."*" The misunderstanding was soon adjusted and 
the state continued its support. The enrolment in the university 
for 1884-1885 was 219. The normal department was conducted 
by a principal and two assistants. The curriculum was composed 
largely of secondary school subjects. There were also a theological 
department and industrial departments of the university .^^ 

The State Normal School at Holly Springs was established by an 
act of the legislature, July 20, 1870, for the training of colored 
teachers. The Reconstruction government had appropriated from 
$4,500 to $5,000 a year for maintenance. The southern govern- 
ment continued the yearly appropriation but cut it down to $3,000. 
The high -water mark in the enrolment was reached in 1880, when 
220 students were registered. The average enrolment for the period 
with which we are dealing, lay somewhere between 125 and 150. 
Up to 1887 the course embraced four years. Theory and practice, 
music, and the traditional secondary subjects seem to have formed 
the basis of the curriculum.^^ 

In addition to these institutions may be mentioned Alcorn 
Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes. Of Alcorn, as 
an institution for the training of teachers. Governor Lowry in 1884 
has this to say:^^ 

Most of the students who are sufficiently advanced, engage in teaching 
when they leave college, and one-fourth of those in attendance now have 
taught at different times in the public schools. The college is practically a 
normal school for the education of colored teachers, though agriculture is 
taught with some success, except that few students ever engage seriously in 
farming. Nearly all educated negroes are Inclined to teaching. 

Alcorn College had had a very irregular and almost tempestuous 
career since its establishment in 1871. Bad management and 
political interference lay at the bottom of the troubles. Throughout 

^^ Report of Superintendent, 1880, p. 13; Governor's Message, 1880, p. 17. 

^' I shall not attempt a detailed history of the normal schools of Mississippi. Mayes, 

in his History of Education in Mississippi, has covered the ground with a fair degree 

of thoroughness. 
^^ Mayes: History of Education in Mississippi. 
^2 Governor's Message, 1884, p. 11. 



Education Under Southern Rule, 1876-1886 59 

its history, up to this time, the attendance had been broken and 
irregular, few pupils remaining through the entire session. The 
yearly enrolment was about 125. The statute which reorganized 
Alcorn in 1878 provided for an institution where the colored youth 
"might acquire a common school education and a scientific and 
practical knowledge of agriculture," etc. 

These three institutions were training a considerable number of 
teachers during the period. It must be remembered, however, that 
their contribution was relatively small; further, that they had to 
draw their patronage from the pupils in country schools where 
meager advantages were provided, and, consequently, that their 
curricula had to be kept within reach of the public schools. These 
were practically the only public secondary schools for Negroes. In 
conclusion, we may say that the level of the teaching profession, 
so far as colored schools were concerned, was necessarily low. 

The Curricidum. At a meeting of the State Teachers' Association 
in 1877 a committee on higher education presented a two-page 
report suggesting a system of secondary schools which would con- 
nect the elementary schools with the university.'*^ The last para- 
graph of this report reveals the attitude of the representative 
southern white teachers with respect to the ideal of an educational 
'ladder' for the colored race : 

What has been said in regard to the provision for white children coming 
up through the line of common schools, high schools, and a great university, 
should be applied as soon as they are prepared for it, to a similar line of 
progress for colored children. 

The legislature in 1878 established a system of secondary schools 
in accordance with the foregoing recommendation by permitting 
students in certain specially qualified academies to draw a pro rata 
of the state funds from their county treasuries.^^ This provision 
probably applied only in the case of white students. It was later 
declared unconstitutional. 

In the revision of the school laws in 1878 the curriculum was not 
specified. In later years, the subjects required for teacher's ex- 
amination constituted the curriculum, so it may safely be inferred 
that, at this date, although not stated by law, these were the 

*^ Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1877. 
«Laws of 1878. Chap. XX. 



6o 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



SECOND GRADE 


THIRD GRADE 


Intermediate 


Elementary 


Arithmetic 


Arithmetic 


Geography 


Spelling 


Grammar 


Reading 


Spelling 


Writing 


Reading 




Writing 





subjects taught in the schools. The requirements for examination 
were as follows :^^ 



FIRST GRADE 

Higher branches of English 

Literature 
Natural Philosophy 
Elements of Bookkeeping 
"All studies usually taught 

in the common schools" 



The State Teachers' Association in 1882 recommended*'' that 
elementary algebra, composition and rhetoric, and the history and 
practice of teaching be substituted for natural philosophy and the 
"higher branches of English literature," as subjects required for 
examination. The legislature, however, seems to have taken no 
cognizance of the matter until 1886. We may infer that the sub- 
jects listed constituted, in the main, the course of study in the 
public schools. 

There was a statute requiring each county to adopt uniform texts, 
but since there was no penalty attached, it was but indifferently 
observed. Many of the old-time texts doubtless continued in use. 
Webster's "Blue-back Speller," used in 1873, was still in use in 1886. 

For the most part, we may say the curriculum was formal, par- 
ticularly so in the elementary school. In the upper grades, natural 
philosophy, bookkeeping, and literature show a tendency toward 
content subjects, but in Negro public schools it is doubtful if these 
subjects were reached by any except a few of the most persistent 
pupils. 



^6 Laws of 1878, Chap. XIV, Section 27. 

" Report of Superintendent, 1882-1883, p. 4. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 
SYSTEM SINCE 1886 

In the four succeeding chapters I shall undertake to trace the 
development of the public school system since 1886. These four 
chapters might well be included under the caption of the present 
chapter, but for the fact that it is necessary to give a rather elaborate 
treatment of the status of the teaching body, the distribution of the 
state school fund, and the curriculum. It has seemed best, there- 
fore, to treat these topics in separate chapters. 

The growing popularity of the public schools in the decade just 
preceding this date gave rise, as we have seen, to the establishment 
of a large number of schools and to the enrolment of an increasingly 
large number of pupils. But the schools, being left in most instances 
to the care of ignorant, bickering, and jealous local trustees, and 
having virtually no supervision from the county or state, pro- 
vided but meager opportunities for proper instruction. Beginning 
with 1886, definite efforts were made by the state department to 
provide some form of supervision, to improve the status of the 
teaching body, and to provide adequate buildings. Yet, for at 
least fourteen years, because of the actual poverty of the state, very 
little progress was made along these lines. Not until 1900 does a 
period of real progress begin. 

For convenient treatment the quarter century embraced between 
the years 1886 and 1910 falls happily into two periods — first, the 
fourteen years of slow and almost imperceptible progress from 
1886 to 1900; and second, the period of remarkable growth and 
prosperity embracing the last decade of our study. 

The Reforms of 1886. As we have seen, the demand for public 
school education had grown greatly during the ten years preceding 
1886, and the machinery of administration was now entirely inade- 
quate for doing efficient service. In 1886, J. R. Preston became state 
superintendent. He succeeded in inducing the legislature to enact 
a number of sweeping reforms. 



62 Public Schools in Mississippi 

Lack of supervision was declared to be one of the chief defects 
of the school system.^ The county superintendency, which had 
existed since Reconstruction days on a salary basis insufficient to 
secure more than nominal service, was now placed on firmer ground 
by the adoption of a new salary schedule.^ The salary of the office 
was fixed at three per cent, of the total school funds received 
annually by the county, provided that no county pay more than 
$600 a year or less than $150. The minimum limit certainly 
worked for the advantage of the schools in counties where only 
forty and sixty dollars had been paid. In return for this increase 
in the emoluments of his office, the superintendent was required to 
visit and inspect the schools, and to spend the first three Saturdays 
of each month conducting institutes for teachers in various centers 
in the county.^ Each race was to have separate institutes and each 
was to receive an equal share of the institute days. 

Another defect was remedied by the new law in the making of the 
school term of four months continuous. Heretofore, it had been a 
frequent practice in certain parts of the state to run the schools 
two months in the winter and two months in mid-summer.'* The 
evil of the plan is apparent. The new law permitted the local 
trustees to determine whether the district school should be taught 
during the winter months or the summer months, but required 
that the term be continuous. County superintendents were divided 
on the question whether winter or summer was the better season in 
which to operate the schools.^ Poor schoolhouses, bad roads, thin 
clothing of pupils were arguments in favor of summer schools. 

The Re-districting Law was another step toward remedying a 
defective system. Up to this time the county had been the unit of 
local organization, but the trustees of the sub-districts seem to 
have controlled the schools, so far as anybody controlled them. The 
new law made the district the unit of local organization, but left 
powers of general supervision, and the fixing of limits of school 
districts with the county board and the county superintendent. 

The trouble heretofore had been that more schools were estab- 
lished than could be supported by the county revenues. Although, 

* Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1883. 
2 Laws, 1886. Chap. XXIV. Section 16. 

' Ibid., Sections 23-26. 

* Report of Superintendent, 1886-1887, p. 5. 
^Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1887. 



Development of the Public School 63 

according to the law of 1878, schools for the same race could not be 
established nearer together than two and one-half miles, they seem to 
have been located "at the instance of every neighborhood faction."^ 
Sometimes, also, a teacher living in a certain community had a 
school established for his own convenience. The new law did much 
to remedy this evil. The county board was empowered to lay off 
and alter the school districts, but no district was to contain less 
than forty-five educable children, except in cases where impassable 
barriers prevented such an arrangement. '^ There were separate 
districts for each race. Under this law, about 500 schools were 
closed during the first year. 

Separate school districts were authorized by the law of 1878 for 
towns of 1,000 inhabitants. But since there were relatively few 
such towns in the state, the advantages of the separate district 
were necessarily restricted. The separate districts contained the 
only schools that had really flourished before 1886. Twenty-two 
such districts were in existence at this time.^ In order to extend 
these advantages the new law permitted towns of 750 to become 
separate districts. 

Perhaps the most important reform was the establishment of 
uniform examinations for teachers. Under the old plan, the exam- 
ination had been hardly more than a matter of form ; county super- 
intendents often granted certificates to any who needed a place. ^ 
Under the new plan questions for examination were sent out from 
the state office, and superintendents were required to see that honest 
examinations were held. The subjects on which teachers were to 
be examined for license were as follows : i" 

FIRST GRADE SECOND GRADE THIRD GRADE 

Spelling Spelling Spelling 

Reading Reading, to fifth Reading, to fifth reader 

Mental and Practical reader Primary Mental Arith- 

Arithmetic Mental Arithmetic metic 

Geography Practical Arithmetic, Rudiments of practical 
English Grammar to cube root Arithmetic through 

Composition Geography (elementary) fractions and simple 

United States History Grammar (elementary) interest 

Natural Philosophy Composition Geography' (elementary) 

(elementary) Primary United States Primary Language Lessons 
Elementary Physiology History 



64 Public Schools in Mississippi 

In addition to passing a satisfactory examination on these sub- 
jects, applicants were required to furnish evidence of good moral 
character and ability to manage a school. 

The grade of certificate was made the basis for determining the 
limits of salaries for teachers. Formerly the average daily atten- 
dance in the school was taken into consideration also, but the abuse 
of the plan led to its abolition. The salary for third-grade teachers 
was fixed between the limits $15 and $20; for second-grade teachers, 
between $18 and $30; for first-grade, between $25 and $55. In 
determining the exact salary of a particular teacher, the county 
superintendent was required to take into consideration the size 
of the school and the executive ability of the teacher. 

The new law also placed the school finances on a more stable 
basis. The state treasurer was authorized, in case the school fund 
did not amount to $300,000 per annum, to transfer an amount from 
the treasury sufficient to make up the balance. A county tax of 
three mills was made mandatory. ^^ 

Up to this time the administration of the schools had been placed 
largely in the hands of the county boards of supervisors, who looked 
after the school interests along with other public interests such as 
the building of bridges and up-keep of roads. The new law required 
that the county superintendent with the advice of the supervisors 
should appoint a county school board. One board member was to 
be appointed from each supervisor's district to serve a term of two 
years, and was to be exempt from road and jury service. The 
superintendent was ex-officio president of the board. The county 
board was vested with general supervision of the schools, with 
power to determine the limits of sub-districts, etc. 

The trustees of the districts were not overlooked in the general 
revision of the school laws.^^ It was required that at least one 
member should be able to read and write, and that two should be 
residents of the district in which the school was located. 

^Report of Superintendent, 1886-1887, p. 5. 

' Laws of 1886, Chap. XXIV, Section 40. 

* Report of Superintendent, 1901-1903. 

» Ibid., 1886-1887, p. 4. 

•"Laws of 1886-1887, Chap. XXIV, Sections 49-53. 

" Ibid., Section 67. 

•2 Ibid., Section ^6. 



Development of the Public School 65 

As is always the case in the inauguration of reforms, there was at 
first widespread criticism and complaint. Grounds for complaint 
were found chiefly in the uniform examinations and in the re-dis- 
tricting law. In a short time, however, this died away, and the 
people began to see the beneficent results of the new system. Gov- 
ernor Lowry in 1889 characterized the change which had taken 
place in public opinion, as "a significant triumph" for the state 
superintendent.^^ 

The Material Equipment of the Schools. One of the most crying 
needs of the school system was the need of better buildings and 
furnishings. The abuses of local taxation to which the Reconstruc- 
tionists had been led in their efforts to provide school equipment, 
had taught the tax-payers a bitter lesson, and one which they did 
not soon forget. The Democrats, as soon as they came into power, 
withdrew from the counties the right to tax themselves for this 
purpose. And as the resources of the state were still at a low ebb, 
the legislature had not dared to make an appropriation for school- 
houses. 

For want of statistics to indicate the true condition of the school 
equipment, I have drafted from the narrative reports of the county 
superintendents (Report of State Superintendent, 1 886-1 887) a 
summary which gives a vague outline of the situation. These re- 
ports are in many cases incomplete and lacking in definiteness, so 
we can but take the data they offer and infer what we may. 

1. Counties in which there were no log schoolhouses: Washington and 
Warren. 

2. Counties which had eliminated all except a few log houses: Adams, 
Madison, and Lowndes. 

3. Counties in which it is definitely stated that half the buildings were 
log houses: Alcorn, Attala, Calhoun, Clay, Hinds, Jasper, Panola, Prentiss, 
and Wilkinson. 

4. Counties in which at least two-thirds of the buildings were log houses: 
Greene, Itawamba, Lauderdale, Marion, Neshoba, Perry, and Wayne. 

5. Total number of counties reporting, sixty-eight. 

This additional information has been derived from the reports: 
Eighteen superintendents reported that churches were being used, 
particularly by the Negroes, in the absence of buildings provided 
by public expense. Desks were in use in but eighteen counties, and 

" Governor's Message, 1889, p. 9. 



66 Public Schools in Mississippi 

split-log benches were still used in at least one county. Thirty- 
one superintendents, in describing the condition of the school- 
houses, employed such terms as, 'bad', 'wretched', 'deplorable', 
'shockingly destitute'. v 

It is not difficult to see that the condition of schoolhouses was far 
from good, and we may easily infer that those for Negroes were 
worse than those for whites. It is true that in many counties Ne- 
groes made extensive use of their churches, but these, aside from 
being poorly adapted for school purposes, could scarcely be called 
comfortable. 

The large number of log houses astounds one used to the con- 
veniences of these latter days. We may say that the average 
schoolhouse in 1886 was a poorly lighted frame shanty, heated by 
a smoky stove, and equipped with rude benches or home-made 
desks; through large cracks in the walls and floor the drafts of 
winter were permitted to play upon the poorly clad children. 

The interest in public schools which had been rapidly growing for 
ten years, and which culminated in the reforms of 1886, inspired 
the people in their efforts to secure a better equipment. Between 
1887 and 1889, 826 new buildings were constructed at a cost of 
$330,000. There is no means of determining how many of these 
were built for colored children, but it is safe to say that not all were 
built for the white population. 

In 1888-1889 the 'Two and Three Per Cent. Fund', which under 
an act of the legislature in 1882 had been allowed to accumulate 
to this date, was distributed to the counties to be applied to build- 
ings and repairs. ^^ Unfortunately, the legislature did not specify 
the conditions under which the fund was to be disbursed to the school 
districts. The state superintendent advised the district trustees 
to supplement their shares of the fund but in many places this was 
not done, and in some places the trustees unlawfully applied the 
money to the payment of teachers. However, from a fund amount- 
ing to $78,429.05, about 500 buildings were erected. 

From 1888 to 1895, country schools to the.number of 2,348 were 
built, or more than a third as many as were needed. The majority 
of these were well-constructed frame buildings and afforded "rea- 
sonable accommodations" for the children. ^^ The towns, in the 

" Report of Superintendent, 1888-1889, p. 8. 
i^ Ibid., 1893-1895, p. 43. 



Development of the Public School 67 

meantime, constructed twenty-five brick buildings costing from 
$10,000 to $30,000 each, and twenty-three frame buildings costing 
from $2,500 to $8,000 each. 

The right of district trustees to change the location of the schools 
was a deterrent factor which prevented many communities from 
building permanent houses. ^^ Despite the efforts put forth to 
improve the equipment of schools, comparatively little seems to 
have been accomplished. The superintendent in 1900 said: 

Our schoolhouses, as a rule, are a disgrace to the state. They are not 
adapted for the work for which they were erected; as a rule, no attention 
being paid to the proper lighting, heating, sanitation, and architecture. I 
do not believe there is a neighborhood in the state too poor to build a com- 
fortable and well-arranged house. ^^ 

Material Equipment, igoo-igio. Table III tells about all there 
is to say in regard to the material equipment for this period. 
From it we learn that not less than 2,135 schoolhouses were built 
during this decade, and that the number built for use of the white 
population exceeded by three to one the number built for Negroes. 
The fact that local funds and private subscriptions provided the 
chief means for the erection of buildings, accounts for this differ- 
ence in numbers for each race. 

Superintendent Whitfield devoted a large part of his energy from 
1900 to 1905 toward improving the material equipment of the 
schools. He published detailed directions for the location of 
schools, for erection of buildings, and for proper lighting, heating, and 
ventilation. 1^ He attributed the low average attendance (scarcely 
sixty per cent.) to disability of pupils, caused by defects in the 
school equipment. Speaking of the condition of the schoolhouses, 
he says: 

It is unnecessary to give statistics in regard to the condition of the rural 
schoolhouses of the state. That they are in the main uncomfortable and 
unsightly and wholly inadequate for their purposes is admitted by everyone. 

The superintendent doubtless had in mind the rural schools for 
whites when he made the foregoing statement. If such was the 
condition of white schoolhouses, what must have been the condi- 
tion of the buildings for Negroes? 

" Report of Superintendent, 1898-1899, p. 4. 
1' Ibid., 1899-1901, p. I. 
i'/6zd., 1901-1903; 1903-1905. 



68 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



However, there was unquestionably much improvement during the 
decade, at least so far as the white schools were concerned. The first 
annual report of the Rural School Supervisor contains a survey of 
the conditions. ^^ He sums up the situation with respect to build- 
ings in the following words: 

In the matter of equipment in the way of buildings and furniture great 
improvements have been made within recent years, but there remains much 
to be done to make the equipment adequate to meet the needs of the country 
children. It seems that about seventy per cent, of the rural schoolhouses 
are still unpainted, while many are uncomfortable and poorly lighted. ^^ 

TABLE III 
SCHOOLHOUSES AND COST OF BUILDINGS — 1899, I9OO, AND I909 





SCHOOLHOUSES BUILT 


EXPENDITURE FOR 








BUILDINGS BY STATE 




White 


Colored 




I 899- I 900 


16621 


58=2 




I900-I90I 








I90I-I902 


201 


97 


$13-531 


I 902-1 903 


215 


82 


22,142 


I 903-1 904 


227 


61 


43,623 


I 904-1 905 


330 


109 


44.534 


I 905- I 906 


333 


94 


57,833 


I 906- I 907 


262 


75 


96,083 


I 907- I 908 


199 


73 




I 908-1 909 


202 


75 




Total 


2,135 


724 


277,746 



" Report of Superintendent, 1909-1911. 

20 Marvelous strides have been made since 1910, and when the story of the last seven 

years has been told, the springing up of new, modern buildings will appear like the 
work of magic. But the colored race has by no means shared equally in this form 
of educational prosperity. Indeed, it is clear to a casual observer that very little 
progress has been made in improving the condition of Negro schools. 

21 Author's estimate from data in Superintendent's Report; schools located in fifty- 

three counties. 
^2 Author's estimate from data in Superintendent's Report; schools located in twenty- 
five counties. 



Development of the Public School 69 

Educational Progress Since 1886. The type of organization 
adopted for the school system in 1886 is fundamentally the same that 
we have at present. A few minor changes have been made, but in 
its essential character there has been but slight modification. The 
immediate effect of the laws of 1886 was salutary. The uniform 
examination of teachers, the inspection of schools by the county 
superintendent, the re-districting law, the permission of communi- 
ties of 750 to establish separate districts, the establishment of a 
county school board, all tended to promote the efficiency of the 
schools. It is our purpose in the succeeding pages of this chapter 
to follow the general trend of educational activity for the next 
quarter of a century. 

A law ^^ which caused considerable agitation among people inter- 
ested in education, was a statute passed in 1890 requiring county 
school boards, on the recommendation of five competent teachers, 
to adopt uniform texts for the county. There was a widespread 
protest against this law, and the superintendent was called upon to 
enforce it through the State Department.-* When those who 
opposed the law became convinced that its provisions were manda- 
tory, and that the superintendent was determined to enforce it, 
opposition ceased. 

Since the establishment of the system, the status of the county 
superintendent had been precarious. Attempts have now and 
then been made to abolish the office and provide for some other 
means of administering the duties belonging to it. Such an attempt 
was made in the Constitutional Convention in 1890, but it failed to 
gain any following.^^ From the first, there had been a considerable 
element in the legislative bodies which favored making the office 
elective. As time went on, there was a growing tendency on the 
part of the counties to seek from the legislature the special privilege 
of electing their own superintendents; in 1892, a special act 
permitted all counties except fourteen to do so.^^ In 1896, superin- 
tendents were elected in all counties except Adams, Coahoma, Hinds, 
Sunflower, Warren, and Washington." Soon these six yielded to 
the voice of the people demanding an elective office. 

23 Annotated Code of 1892, Section 4068. 

2^ Raymond Gazette, November 15, 29; December 13, 20, 1890. 

2^ Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1890, p. 329. 

2« Laws of 1892, Chap. 131. 

=' Laws of 1896, Chap. 108. 



70 Public Schools in Mississippi 

A law of 1892 provided that every county with fifteen school dis- 
tricts for either race, should hold an institute for five days each 
scholastic year.^s The fee of fifty cents, charged each applicant for 
license, was supposed to defray the expense of these institutes. 
This represented a great improvement over the plan provided in 
1886, but it did not prove very efficient. 

A county examining board was established in 1890.29 This board 
consisted of the county superintendent and two first-grade teachers 
or college graduates, who were authorized to examine the papers 
of all applicants for license to teach. In 1896 the State Board of 
Examiners was established ^^ and authorized to issue professional 
and state licenses. State licenses were legal for one-, two- and three- 
year periods, according to the per cent, of proficiency indicated 
on the applicant's papers. Teachers who received state licenses a 
second time, were granted exemption from further examination. 

Separate districts were required by law in 1892 to make either 
or both of their schools graded schools.^^ Graded schools were 
defined as follows: First, graded grammar schools, in which the 
elementary branches were taught; and second, graded high schools, 
in which were provided studies for those who had passed the graded 
grammar school course. The trustees were permitted to fix rea- 
sonable tuition fees for high school students. Children from the 
country had been permitted since 1886 to attend the separate dis- 
trict schools, and have their pro rata of the school fund transferred 
to the separate district. 

In 1906 the county board of education was empowered to estab- 
lish rural separate districts ^^ having an area of not less than sixteen 
square miles. Such districts, however, were not permitted the 
rights of separate districts, unless they maintained a school for 
seven months. The county board of supervisors levied the tax for 
maintenance on petition of a majority of the qualified electors. 

Two years later municipal authorities were permitted to issue 
bonds to build and repair schoolhouses, and to maintain schools.^^ 

i!* Annotated Code of 1892, Sections 99 to 102. 

2' Laws of 1890, Chap. 71, Section 8. 

5" Laws of 1896, Chap. 106. 

^' Laws of 1892, Section 4015. 

'= Annotated Code of 1906, Section 4530. 

'3 Laws of 1908, Chap. loi. 



Development of the Public School 



71 



In 1904, a uniform text-book law was passed ^* which permitted 
a commission of eight teachers appointed by the governor to select 
texts for use in all public schools for a period of five years. Texts 
in the following subjects were to be adopted: orthography, reading, 
writing, intellectual arithmetic, practical arithmetic, geography, 
English grammar, composition. United States history, physiology, 
civil government, elements of agriculture, history of Mississippi. 

The statutory course of study was now composed of the same 
subjects that were required of teachers in the county examinations. 
The list of studies for examination, however, had been increased in 
1904 by the addition of elements of agriculture.^^ 



























• 












-" 


/ 








^^^ 


/ 






/ 


/ 
/ 

/ 






^ 




^ 






^ 












y 











































IS75, 1880 1885 I8S0 1895 1900 1905 



Fig. I School Population: White — 

Colored . Expressed in 

Ten Thousands 

























































-> 






^.-1 


— 


- 




















y 





























ISTS 1880 1885 IB90 1895 1900 1905 1910 



Fig. 2 Enrolment: White 

Colored . Expressed in 

Ten Thousa7ids 



The trend of public sentiment was unquestionably in the direc- 
tion of adapting the schools to the needs of the people. A Com- 
mittee of Five was appointed by the State Teachers' Association 
in 1 901 to investigate the conditions prevailing in rural schools 
and make recommendations to the association. The committee 
rendered an elaborate report in May, 1903.^^ Among the recom- 
mendations of the committee the most prominent were: (i) the 

3^ Laws of 1904, Chap. 86. 

85 Ibid. 

'^ Report of Superintendent, 1901-1903. 



72 Public Schools in Mississippi 

encouragement of local taxation with the county as a unit; (2) 
better supervision of rural schools through a county superintendent 
responsible to a board; (3) systematic training of teachers through 
normals and institutes; (4) a revision of the course of study, plac- 
ing less emphasis upon mental and practical arithmetic and more 
on English and history; (5) the addition of agriculture on the list 
of statutory subjects. 

Superintendent Whitfield in 1905 recommended the establish- 
ment of rural high schools, and also the establishment of a limited 
number of agricultural high schools. The recommendation with 
respect to agricultural high schools was repeated by Superintendent 
Powers in 1907, with the result that the legislature agreed to the 
establishment of one such school in each county. ^^ The school so 
established was to receive $1,500 from the state. This law, however, 
was declared unconstitutional because it did not provide for the 
education of the colored youth. The present agricultural high 
school bill was passed as a substitute in 1910.^^ It provides for the 
establishment of one such school for the white youth and one for 
the colored youth in any county, after the electors of the county 
have voted a levy for equipment and maintenance. The two schools 
may be established at different times, and separate levies are to 
be made for each school. This means that the voters, at present 
practically all white, determine whether a Negro agricultural high 
school shall be established. The result has been that no Negro 
schools have as yet been established. 

The consolidation of schools was a topic in the report of Super- 
intendent Powers in 1907. The recommendation received legisla- 
tive favor in 1910,^^ and county school boards were authorized to 
consolidate schools and to provide for the transportation of pupils. 

Other steps toward the improvement of rural schools were the 
organization of boys' corn clubs, which became very popular in the 
later years of this decade, the organization of a school improvement 
association, and the appointment of a rural school supervisor in 
1910. These movements represent strides far in advance of the 
faltering pace of 1900. It should be observed, however, that Negro 
schools have not shared to any great extent in this progress. 

" Laws of 1908, Chap. 102. 
'* Laws of 1910, Chap. 122. 
39 Ibid., Chap. 124. 



Development of the Public School 



72> 



Stagnation is written large in the statistics for white schools for 
the period embraced between 1886 and 1899. (See Table IV.) 
While there was a substantial increase in the enrolment and in the 
percentage of the school population enrolled, the average daily 
attendance increased but 16.0 per cent, and the number of teach- 
ers but 1 5. 1 per cent. The enrolment was outrunning the in- 



















































































__^^ 


r::!^ 


./^ 


^^ 












y 















1875 1880 1885 1890 I89S 1900 1905 1910 

Fig. 3 Average Daily Attendance: 

White — ; Colored . Expressed 

in Ten Thousands 





























/ 












/ 


/ 












/ 




















/ 


— 












/ 










^- 


^ 


/ 





— 


-— 


^ 




'^ 


/ 
/ 

/ 












,-" 


/ 























































1875 1860 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 

Fig. 4 Number of Teachers: 

White ; Colored . Expressed 

in Thousands 



crease in the number of teachers, so that in 1899 the average 
teacher (on the basis of enrolment) had to care for four more pupils 
than he did in 1886. For the increase in service thus required, he 
received a raise in salary of twenty-seven cents per month, making 
an average monthly salary of $31.64. 

In the Negro schools for the same period positive retrogression is 
evident, if statistics indicate the true situation. Although the 
Negro school population was increasing far more rapidly than the 
school population of the white race, the enrolment was not keeping 



74 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



pace. White schools in 1899 were enrolling 10.95 P^r cent, more of 
the school population than in 1886, and the Negro schools but 5.36 
per cent. more. Yet, the increase of enrolment in Negro schools 
was far in excess of the increase of the average daily attendance. In 
fact, the average daily attendance showed scarcely any increase. 
The number of teachers also failed to increase. In 1899, the aver- 
age Negro teacher was required to teach sixty-three children, 
thirteen more than in 1886, and for this increase in his duties he 
received the sum of $19.39, or $8.01 less than he received in 1886. 

















A 








































y 












/ 








/ 




\ 


/ 










\ 
\ 
















-^, 





































1875 1689 1685 1890 1695 _ 1900 1905 1910 

Fig. 5 Average Monthly Salaries of Teachers: 

White ; Colored . 

Expressed in Dollars 



In marked contrast with the depression of the period just dis- 
cussed is the progress in white schools during the succeeding ten 
years. The enrolment increased 32.4 per cent, and the average 
daily attendance, 41. i per cent. In 1909, 91.78 per cent, of the 
school population was being enrolled. The number of teachers 
increased 38 per cent., their average monthly salaries increased 
nearly ten dollars, and the number of pupils per teacher was slightly 
reduced. The schools were now reaching a larger number of peo- 
ple than ever before, and were developing the machinery for a 
higher degree of efficiency than they had ever before exhibited. 



Development of the Public School 75 

In Negro schools we see a few of the marks of progress, but we 
cannot say that they have advanced very far. In the last ten 
years there has been a substantial increase in the enrolment and 
average attendance. The number of teachers has increased 17.5 
per cent., but has by no means kept pace with the enrolment. The 
average Negro teacher now has to teach four children more than 
he did in 1899, and receives for it ninety-two cents more a month. 
He is now attempting the Herculean task of teaching sixty-seven 
children, or almost twice as many as the average white teacher is 
required to teach. Were it not for the fact that such a small per- 
centage of the enrolment is in daily attendance, colored teachers 
would be able to accomplish little indeed. As things now stand, 
we can hope for but the most meager returns. 

When we consider in connection with the statistical data we have 
just interpreted, the fact that the average rural school term is 
barely four months, that the buildings used for school purposes are 
altogether inadequate, and that the teachers have little or no 
training, we need not wonder that Negroes who receive instruction 
in such schools continue in ignorance, shiftlessness, and crime. 



76 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



TABLE IV 
PROGRESS OF WHITE AND COLORED SCHOOLS, 1 886 TO 1 899 

( Compiled from Statistics in Reports of the State Superintendent) 





WHITE 


COLORED 








Per 






Per 




1886 


189Q 


Cent. 
Increase 


1886 


1899 


Cent. 
Increase 


School population 


202,532 


227,470" 


II. 7 


269,090 


331,330" 


23.1 


Enrolment 


129,203 


167,173 


29.4 


153,530 


191,968 


25.0 


Per cent, of school 














population enrolled 


62.76" 


73.7i« 


IO-95 


53-45" 


58.09" 


5-36 


Average daily atten- 


84,884 


98,379 


16.0 


99,134 


102,447 


3-3 


dance 














Teachers 


3,840 


4,419 


I5-I 


3,012 


3,023 


•03 


Pupils per teacher ^^ 


337 


37.8 




50.9 


63-5 




Average monthly sal- 














aries of teachers 


$31.37 


$31-64 


$o.27« 


$27.40 


$19-39 


— $8.01 « 



PROGRESS OF WHITE AND COLORED SCHOOLS, 1 899 TO I9O9 





WHITE 


COLORED 


• 






Per 






Per 




1899 


1909 


Cent. 
Increase 


1899 


1909 


Cent. 
Increase 


School population 


227,470" 


241,218" 


6.0 


33i,330^« 


360,925" 


8.1 


Enrolment 


167,173 


221,392 


32.4 


191,968 


238,639 


24.2 


Per cent, of school 














population enrolled 


73-71" 


91.78" 


18.07 


58.09" 


66.11" 


8.02 


Average daily atten- 














dance 


98,379 


138,813 


41. 1 


102,447 


145,153 


41.6 


Teachers 


4,419 


6,099 


38.0 


3,023 


3,552 


17-5 


Pupils per teacher ^ 


37.8 


36.3 




63-5 


67.2 




Average monthly sal- 














aries of teachers 


$31-64 


$41.49 


$9.85*=' 


$19-39 


$20.31 


$0.92 « 



^o United States Commissioner's Report, school age, five to eighteen. Statistics for 

1886, school age, five to twenty-one. 
^' United States Commissioner's Report. 
*'^ On the basis of number of pupils enrolled. 
*^ Aggregate; minus sign means decrease. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE STATUS OF THE TEACHING BODY 

Period Between 1886 and igoo. The state superintendent in his 
Reports in 1891-1893 and 1893-1895 showed that the plan of dis- 
tributing the state school fund, prescribed in the constitution of 
1890, had worked to the advantage of the 'black counties'. Did 
this advantage result in better school facilities for the large number 
of Negroes resident in these counties? Did it result in poorer facili- 
ties for the Negroes resident in the 'white counties'? 

The state distribution could not be used for school buildings, or 
for repairs, or for furniture. Nor could it be used to increase the 
length of term in one district of a county without increasing the 
length of terms in all districts. To this extent, then, white and 
colored children shared equally the advantage derived by the 
favored counties. It is true that when the schools of a county could 
be supported entirely from the state distribution, the people were 
free to apply their local revenues toward increasing the efficiency 
of their schools in other ways. But the state distribution went 
chiefly to pay the salaries of teachers. 

In order to determine the extent to which the unequal distribu- 
tion afifected the status of the teaching profession in various parts 
of the state, I have continued the comparative study made by the 
superintendent in 1 893-1 895. The code of 1892 ^ prescribed the 
following schedule of salaries for teachers in the public schools: 

Third grade, $15 to $20 
Second grade, $18 to $30 
First grade, $25 to $55 

The law added : "In fixing the salary the superintendent must take 
into consideration the executive and teaching capacity of the 
teachers, and the size of the school, to be determined both by the 
educable population of the district and the average attendance of 
the preceding year." 

'Annotated Code of 1892, Section 2026. 



7^ 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



TABLE V 

COMPARATIVE SALARIES OF TEACHERS, 1892-1893 

Ten White Counties {City and Country Schools) 





TOTAL SALARIES 


AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARIES 




White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


Alcorn 

Calhoun 

Choctaw 

Covington 

Itawamba 

Jones 

Leake 

Marion 

Pontotoc 

Smith 


$8,506 
8,510 
5,375 
4,174 
9,681 

4,273 
6,998 

5,644 
10,091 

5,889 


$2,621 

2,452 
2,072 
1,381 
1,083 

659 
2,273 
1,182 
2,199 

939 


$31.04 
22.99 

26.35 
23.46 
21.25 
14.65 
26.20 
28.67 
27.92 
21.41 


$20.85 
15-67 
22.53 
21.39 
19.70 
16.86 
18.60 
17.08 
18.06 
14.20 


Total 


$69,141 


$16,861 


$24-39 


$18.49 



Ten Black Counties 





TOTAL SALARIES 


AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARIES 




While 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


Bolivar 

Claiborne 

Coahoma 

De Soto 

Holmes 

Issaquena 

Le Flore 

Lowndes 

Monroe 

Washington 


$8,725 
10,240 

6,134 

8,722 

10,941 

1,965 

4,950 

13,818 

15,330 

12,116 


$11,526 
7,957 
4,565 
6,019 
9,310 
3,124 
5,284 

7,325 
7,181 

16,155 


$49-45 
36-90 
42-59 
39-06 
40.48 
53-50 
48.00 
44-72 
35-57 
51-32 


$28.33 
26.76 
19-50 
24.61 

24-25 
26.30 
21.81 
22.06 
16.94 
29.70 


Total 


$92,941 


$78,446 


$44-15 


$24.02 



Status of tJie Teaching Body 79 

The law gave freedom for a considerable amount of variability in 
respect to salary. Let us see how the plan worked out. The state 
superintendent's study called attention to the unduly large amounts 
which the black counties received through the state distribution. 
Table V shows how these amounts were applied to the salaries of 
teachers. We may conclude from this table that: 

1. The black counties were paying, in the aggregate, very much 
larger amounts to teachers than were being paid in the white 
counties. 

2. The average salary of Negro teachers in both white and black 
counties was considerably lower than the average salary of white 
teachers. 

3. Negro teachers in the black counties were almost as well pro- 
vided for as white teachers in the sparsely settled counties. In fact, 
four black counties were paying Negro teachers salaries in excess 
of the average salary of white teachers in the ten white counties. 

On the basis of these conclusions, are we to surmise that the 
black counties were employing in their schools teachers with a 
higher grade of certificate than the white counties were able to 
employ? Or, were they paying teachers of similar qualifications to 
those in the white counties, salaries nearer the maximum figures in 
the graded schedule? 

Table VI throws light on this query. It is perfectly evident from 
this table that first-grade teachers in the white schools of both 
white and black counties outnumbered the second and third-grade 
teachers. Further, it is evident that third-grade teachers pre- 
dominate in Negro schools of both white and black counties. 
Table VII gives this information in terms of percentages. From 
these data we may conclude, that: 

1. The average Negro teacher in the black counties, although he 
received a larger salary than his co-laborer in the white counties, 
was not so well qualified for his position — so far as a certificate indi- 
cates ability to teach. 

2. The higher salary of the Negro teachers in the black counties 
was not due to their holding higher grades of certificate, but to the 
fact that their salaries were fixed nearer the upper margin of the 
graded schedule. For instance, third-grade teachers in the black 
counties, instead of receiving $15, possibly received salaries near 

), the legal maximum to which a third-grade teacher was entitled. 



8o 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



TABLE VI 

NUMBER OF TEACHERS OF EACH GRADE, 1892-1893 

Ten White Counties 





WHITE 


COLORED 


















First 


Second 


Third 


First 


Second 


Third 


Alcorn 


29 


17 


7 


3 


2 


18 


Calhoun 


65 


II 





7 


13 


10 


Choctaw 


47 


4 





12 


10 


I 


Covington 


47 


I 


I 


8 


5 


3 


Itawamba 


49 


35 





I 


9 


I 


Jones 


35 


25 


I 


I 


3 


6 


Leake 


37 


18 


6 


3 


14 


12 


Marion 


56 


4 





3 


5 


10 


Pontotoc 


38 


31 


2 


I 


10 


14 


Smith 


63 


15 


I 


I 


8 


6 


Total 


466 


161 


18 


40 


79 


81 



Ten Black Counties 





WHITE 


COLORED 


















First 


Second 


Third 


First 


Second 


Third 


Bolivar 


34 


2 





24 


35 


33 


Claiborne 


18 


18 





6 


28 


9 


Coahoma 


25 


3 





7 


6 


45 


De Soto 


41 


7 





II 


II 


31 


Holmes 


58 


2 





22 


44 


19 


Issaquena 


9 








12 


9 


12 


Le Flore 


19 


I 





18 


21 


27 


Lowndes 


41 


9 


4 


I 


18 


45 


Monroe 


49 


35 


4 


2 


9 


76 


Washington 


32 








14 


44 


51 


Total 


326 


77 


8 


117 


225 


348 



Status of the Teaching Body 

TABLE VII 

PER CENT. OF TEACHERS OF EACH GRADE IN WHITE AND 
BLACK COUNTIES, 1892-1893 



81 





WHITE COUNTIES 


BLACK COUNTIES 


RACE 


First 


Second 


Third 


First 


Second 


Third 


White teachers 
Colored 
teachers 


72.2 
20.0 


24.9 
39-5 


2.5 
40.5 


79-3 
16.9 


18.7 
32.6 


1-9 

504 



Thus we see that the black counties were to some extent sharing 
their abundance between both white and colored teachers. 

3. In general, we may say that higher average salaries for white 
teachers in all parts of the state were due to the fact that they held 
higher grades of certificate. 

Was there any discrimination on the part of county superinten- 
dents against Negro teachers? Was there any disposition on their 
part to exercise their legal prerogative and fix the salaries of Negro 
teachers lower than those of white teachers, observing, of course, 
the legal limits? Was there any disposition on the part of county 
boards of examiners to keep down the salaries of Negro teachers 
by granting them lower grades of certificate? We have no data for 
answering these questions. If the practice of fixing the salaries of 
Negro teachers lower than those of white teachers was at all general, 
there was possibly a justification for this. A county superintendent 
speaking before the State Teachers' Association as early as 1887, 
gave a reasonable defense of the flexible salary schedule i^ 

Teachers differ immensely in degrees of competency, social standing, and 
success. Now equitable dealing requires that such differences should be 
recognized; and, accordingly, the state when fixing her salaries should make 
it possible to discriminate with due regard to them. It does not follow that 
all teachers of the same grade should receive the same pay. I believe that a 
large proportion of our teachers can by rigid economy live upon the salaries 
as now fixed ; and when the general poverty of our people and the respective 

2 Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1887. 



82 Public Schools in Mississippi 

claims of their teachers are considered, it may be assumed that this ability 
to live by the salary is the measure of equity. For this proportion, then, I 
would say that the remuneration is just and adequate. 

We may readily see how the principle here advocated applies in 
Negro schools. Negro teachers, with a lower standard of living, 
with fewer social wants, and with lower qualifications, did not de- 
serve as high salaries as were paid white teachers. 

The fact that there was such a large percentage of the colored 
teachers who received third-grade certificates gives rise to the 
query whether Negro teachers were getting as high certificates as 
they deserved. A negative answer to this question impugns the 
integrity of the examining boards in almost every county. In the 
absence of data it would be folly to press such a claim. On the other 
hand, the low grade of work done in the public schools, and the total 
lack of high schools for Negroes, leads us to the conclusion that the 
preparation of Negro teachers could not have been very thorough. 

In this connection it would be well to ascertain what the standards 
of certification were. Very few changes were made in the school 
law from 1886 to 1896. The Annotated Code of 1892 indicates that 
a slight change had been made in the list of subjects prescribed for 
examination.^ Second- and third-grade applicants were required to 
stand examination in primary physiology (with special reference 
to narcotics), in addition to the list of subjects prescribed for second- 
grade applicants in 1886. The passing mark for a third-grade cer- 
tificate was set at sixty, for a second-grade certificate, at seventy-five 
per cent. To the list of subjects required for a first-grade certificate 
in 1886 were added the history of Mississippi, elements of natural 
philosophy, civil government, elements of physiology and hygiene 
(with special reference to narcotics). 

Normals and institutes doubtless increased somewhat the effi- 
ciency of both white and colored teachers. The benefit of the Pea- 
body Fund had been lost in 1884, and was not restored until 1892. 
County superintendents, however, were required by the law of 1886 
to spend three Saturdays of each month conducting teachers' 
institutes. This plan was very ineffective and was succeeded in 
1892 by what is known as the county institute, conducted for a 
period of five days each scholastic year.* Separate institutes were 

8 cf. Laws of 1886, Chap. XXIV, Sections 49 to 53 with Code of 1892, Section 4022. 
^Report of Superintendent, 1891-1893, p. 15. 



Status of the Teaching Body 83 

held for each race. These were infinitely better than the old plan, 
but by 1899 they had "outgrown their usefulness,"^ and the superin- 
tendent recommended that several counties combine and conduct 
a normal for a longer period. 

In the year in which the state was restored to the benefit of the 
Peabody Fund a colored normal was opened at Holly Springs and 
another at Tougaloo." In 1895 two additional colored normals 
were opened for teachers in other parts of the state. Competent 
white instructors were employed in these normals. The course of 
study covered four weeks. By 1899 there were eleven Peabody nor- 
mals running in the state, six of which were for colored teachers. 
They received from the fund $2,800, from the state, $2,500, and a 
local supplement from the towns in which the normals were held.'' 
In 1897 there were 1801 white and 610 Negro teachers trained in 
these schools. 

By 1897 the normals and county institutes had been worked into 
a system.^ First, a conductor's institute was held for two weeks 
at some central location where thirty-six picked men were trained 
to conduct county institutes; second, the Peabody summer schools 
were conducted by the same men who trained the conductors; third, 
the county institutes were conducted by pairs of men trained in the 
conductor's school. Two institutes were conducted in the county 
at the same time, one for each race. 

Superintendent Preston seems to have been interested in improv- 
ing the standards of colored teachers. In his report (1894) of the 
Negro normals to the Peabody trustees, he said:^ 

The colored race was amply provided for this year. All the instructors 
were white. The Negroes themselves prefer competent white instructors. 
I selected the instructors with great care, choosing only such as were capable 
and of the proper spirit — men who believe in educating the Negro race, and 
are willing to help them in their efiforts. The Negroes of Mississippi are 
making good progress. Under our strict uniform examinations, 596 make 
first-grade licenses. There is no end to the persistency with which they seek 
to better their qualifications ... In one county I found seventeen colored 
teachers in a county institute, and all but one had been to college. . . 

5 Report of Superintendent, 1898-1899, p. 27. 

^ Proceedings, Peabody Fund Trustees, Vol. V, pp. 2i, 91. 

'' Report of Superintendent, 1898-1899. 

* Proceedings, Peabody Fund Trustees, Vol. V, p. 278. 

' Ibid., p. 91. 



84 Public Schools in Mississippi 

They teach in the winter and attend college in the summer. Their persis- 
tency deserves commendation, and is bound to result in good progress. 

The state institutions were in the meantime contributing their 
share toward the education of the Negro. State support for the 
Normal Department at Tougaloo, however, was withdrawn by 
constitutional prescription in 1890. Up to this time its work 
seems to have been very creditable.^" 

The attendance at the State Normal College at Holly Springs 
rose from 162 in 1890 to nearly 200 in 1900. From 1877 to 1890 the 
annual state appropriation had been $3,000. In 1890, however, the 
appropriation was cut to $2,500. A two years' course was offered. 
The catalog of 1890 outlines the course of study as follows :^^ 

FIRST YEAR 

First Term. Rhetorical reading; history, United States; arithmetic, 
written and mental; geography, political and physical; algebra, introduc- 
tory; grammar; written spelling; writing and drawing. 

Second Term. Rhetoric and composition; civil government; physiology, 
natural philosophy; algebra; geometry, introductory; drawing. 

SECOND YEAR 

First Term. Geometry, plane and solid; trigonometry, plane; history, 
universal; natural history, zoology; chemistry; theory and practice of 
teaching. 

Second Term. Surveying and navigation; geology; botany; mental and 
moral philosophy; English literature; theory and practice of teaching. 

Practice teaching for the older pupils was provided by the organi- 
zation of a model class from the junior students. Vocal and instru- 
mental music were offered. An excerpt from the report of the 
president to the State Department indicates the character of the 
course of study offered in the later nineties :^^ 

The literary course is broad and thorough, so a normal student has a good 
knowledge of English, United States history, the natural sciences, and mathe- 
matics; and theory and practice of teaching, history of education, reforms 
of eminent teachers, psychology, and a short course in Latin. 

1" Message of Governor Stone, 1892; 1894. 

11 Mayes: History of Education in Mississippi, p. 266. Gives an account of this insti- 
tution up to 1890. 
1^ Report of Superintendent, 1895-1897. 



Status of the Teaching Body 85 

Governor Lowry in 1884 had characterized Alcorn Agricultural 
and Mechanical College as practically a normal shool for the colored 
race, since so large a proportion of its students went into teaching.^' 
It is probably true that a large number of its graduates continued 
to become teachers. In 1890 there were seven members of the 
faculty and two hundred and forty-five students. Up to that date, 
however, there had been only forty-six graduates. Courses were 
then offered in mental and moral philosophy, English literature, 
bookkeeping, political economy, and music, in addition to the 
sciences and the industrial subjects.'* 

From 1894 to 1898, internal dissensions which called for legislative 
interference, decreased the efficiency of the institution. The presi- 
dent was dismissed, a new man was installed who was out of har- 
mony with the faculty, and friction continued.'^ In spite of these 
troubles the enrolment reached 390 in 1897. An able board of 
trustees in 1896 projected a thorough reorganization of the school, 
and recommended larger appropriations for the development of the 
industrial department. The report of the executive committee '^ 
states the purpose of the reorganization in the following terms: 

We are of the opinion that the Negroes can be best aided by making them 
skilled laborers in every line of industry. To do this we must have better 
equipment, and for that purpose especially we make an earnest plea for an 
increased appropriation. 

Governor McLaurin stated in 1900 that affairs at Alcorn were 
now harmonious and that the institution was a "credit to the 
colored race."'^ 

With the summer normals, the county institutes, and the state 
institutions directing their efforts toward the development of the 
teaching profession, good results were forthcoming. The state 
superintendent in 1895 stated '^ that in ten years the number of 
first-grade colored teachers rose from 238 to 600, so that at that 
date more than twenty per cent, of those employed in colored schools 
held first-grade certificates. By 1901 the number of first-grade 

12 Senate Journal, 1884, p. 27, Governor's Message. 
^* Mayes: History of Education in Mississippi, p. 270. 
1^ Senate Journal, 1894, p. 21; 1898, p. 171. 
^8 Report of Superintendent, 1895-1897. p. 261. 
1' House Journal, 1900, p. 12, Governor's Message. 
^8 Report of Superintendent, 1893-1895, p. 36. 



86 Public Schools in Mississippi 

teachers had risen to 675, representing an increase of a little more 
than one percent, in six years; so, while we may say that there had 
been progress, the advance was rather slow. 

The Status of the Teaching Body, igoo-igio. The report of the 
state superintendent in 1903 asserted that ninety per cent, of the 
teachers of Mississippi were not professionally trained, and that 
seventy-five per cent, had never attended any school other than the 
rural school. ^^ The only professional training received by the white 
teachers of the state was that provided by the summer normals, the 
county institutes and the departments of pedagogy in the state 
institutions. The work done in the summer normals consisted 
simply of a review of the common branches, and the study of a 
"standard text-book on pedagogy." They were conducted by skilled 
teachers who were supposed to emphasize the practical side of the 
work.^° 

In 1899 eleven white normals of one month each were held. 
Colored normals were held at Greenville, Vicksburg, New Albany, 
Okolona, Macon, and Newton. The normal at Vicksburg was this 
year conducted by five capable white men. Courses were pursued 
in grammar, literature, rhetoric, physics, physiology, first-year 
Latin, arithmetic, geometry, civil government, and pedagogy. The 
director of this normal recommended that Latin be not attempted 
again in so short a term. The representative Negro teachers of the 
state were present at this normal, and they organized a State 
Teachers* Association for Negroes. ^^^ 

The results accomplished in the county institutes were disap- 
pointing. They were too short to make possible a review of the 
common branches and at the same time to arouse interest and en- 
thusiasm in educational endeavor. ^^ The salaries paid rural teachers 
were so small that they did not feel justified in attending. Yet the 
State Department thought the training which they offered was 
infinitely better than none. 

An elaborate outline of studies to be pursued in the normals was 
issued from the state office in 1901.^^ It contained outlines of the 

1' Report of Superintendent, 1901-1903, p. 8. 

^0 Ibid., 1 897-1 899, p. 2. 

2' Ibid., 1897-1899, p. 2. 

22 Ibid., p. 27. 

^^ Ibid., 1899-1901, p. 159. 



Status of the Teaching Body 87 

following subjects: psychology, school management, practical ele- 
ments in the art of teaching, elementary work (including the regular 
school subjects), nature study, literature, story-telling, drawing, 
physical culture, singing, German, geography, United States his- 
tory, Mississippi history, civil government, written and mental 
arithmetic, physics, and physiology. The wide range of studies here 
offered does not indicate, of course, that all these subjects were 
taught in all the schools. 

The need of a state normal school for white teachers had been 
repeatedly pointed out ever since the establishment of the public 
school system. The legislature, however, could never be induced to 
establish such a school. It was only in 191 1 that a bill establishing 
such a school was finally approved. 

In 1 90 1, Holly Springs State Normal School had a building, origi- 
nally worth $12,000. The equipment was by no means adequate 
to accommodate the number of students that could be obtained. 
Between two and three hundred students were in attendance. Three 
years of preparatory work were offered in addition to the two years' 
normal course. The president claimed that the curriculum was 
"equal to that of an ordinary college course," but it surely did not 
go far beyond the secondary subjects.^^ The foreign languages had 
been abandoned, and emphasis was now being laid on psychology, 
educational theory, and methods. The school ceased to exist in 
1904 when the legislature refused to vote an appropriation for its 
support. Since 1904 the only normal training provided for Negroes 
has been at Alcorn, in the private institutions, and in the normals 
and institutes. Up until 1901 there had been nearly two hundred 
graduates from the State Normal School, and the president had 
never heard of one who had been convicted of a serious crime. 

Alcorn, in 1907, was accommodating over five hundred students, 
and the attendance was limited to the number that could be lodged.^^ 
"Several hundred" were being turned away. Many of the students 
were mature men and women who had fo,und it embarrassing to 
continue longer in the public schools. A nine-year course was pro- 
vided, which permitted students to enter from the fourth grade. 
The five-year preparatory course was also called a normal course. 
Not over twenty-five per cent, of those who completed this depart- 

'^ Report of Superintendent, 1899-1901, p. 24. 
25 Ibid., 1905-1907, p. 12. 



88 Public Schools in Mississippi 

ment entered the college. In 1906, sixteen graduated from the 
scientific department of the college, sixty-five from the preparatory 
(normal) department, and fifteen from the industrial departments. 
It is clear that Alcorn was making a considerable contribution to the 
teaching profession, in spite of the fact that the institution was 
supposed to emphasize the agricultural course. 

Having now considered the advantages of normal training offered 
to the teaching body in Mississippi, let us pass to a consideration of 
its standing from the point of view of qualifications as represented 
in the grade of certificate issued. Few, if any, changes had been 
made since 1892 in the requirements for the different grades of cer- 
tificate. After 1896, doubtless the requirement that the State Board 
of Examiners examine the papers of applicants for state license, 
tended to lift the standard of efificiency of the teaching body. 

From the statistical tables indicating the number of teachers of 
each race and grade, found in the Reports of the State Superinten- 
dent, the author has computed the following percentages: 





1889-1890 


1 900-1 90 1 2" 


1909-1910 


GRADE 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


First grade 
Second grade 
Third grade 


61.7 

33-5 
4-9 


14.2 
45-9 
39-8 


83.7 
14.0 

1-9 


21.4 
39-3 
39-1 


91.4 

7.8 
1.4 


23.6 
24.7 
51.6 



So far as the status of the Negro teachers of Mississippi is con- 
cerned, there is but one conclusion to be reached. Their efficiency, 
as represented by the grade of certificate which they held, indicates 
a slight improvement during the eleven years between 1890 and 
1901, and a very decided retrogression during the nine years between 
1901 and 1910. We may account for this falling back in a number 
of ways. The closing of the Holly Springs Normal School undoubt- 
edly accounts for a part of it. The Negro schools in many parts of 
the state were undoubtedly demoralized by the unfavorable trend of 
public opinion, and were able less easily to turn out efficient teachers. 

^* Statistics for 1899-1900 were not summarized in the report for this year. 



Status of the Teaching Body 89 

If demoralization is reflected in the grade of certificate which the 
teachers were using, it is no less reflected in the salaries which they 
were earning. In 1898, the salaries of white teachers ranged from 
$16.00 in Perry and $19.19 in Jones, to $44.20 in Coahoma and 
$42 in Sharkey." Salaries of Negro teachers for the same year 
ranged from $11.54 in Clarke and $12.86 in Grenada, to $26.68 
in Sharkey and $26 in Sunflower. While these averages were 
probably inaccurate in some instances, they indicate fairly well 
that there was a wide difference between the amounts paid teachers 
in one part of the state, and the amounts paid teachers in other 
parts of the state; they indicate also that there was a wide difference 
between the amounts paid Negro teachers and the amounts paid 
white teachers; they indicate, further, that many teachers, white 
and colored, were receiving a bare living wage, if so much. 

The table indicating the average salaries paid teachers from year 
to year (Statistical Summary, p. 141), shows that the average salary 
of white teachers in the rural schools rose from a general average 
for the entire state in 1901, of $30.64 to $42.38 in 1 910; it shows 
that during the same interval the average salary for Negro teachers 
rose from $19.39 to $20.52. Such an advance in the salaries of 
white teachers has not a parallel in any other decade of the history 
of the schools. Undoubtedly there had been a tremendous awaken- 
ing to the need of education in the state. That the Negro schools 
did not to any appreciable extent share the benefits of this awaken- 
ing, is clearly evident from these figures. If Negro teachers de- 
served no better salaries than these, they certainly represented a 
very low degree of efficiency. 

In conclusion, the very best picture of the teaching profession 
in the schools for Negroes, is not a bright one. If the tendency 
has not been positively backward, it has certainly not been forward. 
Having lost the Normal Department in Tougaloo by constitutional 
prescription in 1890, and having lost the State Normal School at 
Holly Springs in 1904 by failure of the legislature to appropriate 
funds for its support, the Negroes have left them as the only insti- 
tution for training teachers, an institution primarily designed for 
agricultural and industrial instruction. It can hardly be hoped 
that the meager training furnished by the public schools will pro- 
vide more efficient teachers than those which now man the schools. 
^' Report of Superintendent, 1897-1899, Statistics. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMMON 
SCHOOL FUND 

Period Between 1886 and igoo. The common school fund up to 
1890 had been distributed to the counties in proportion to the num- 
ber of educable children. The poll tax, however, had not been 
included in the common school fund. The new Constitution made 
a change in the wording of the section on this subject, which very 
vitally affected Negro education. For the sake of clearness it will 
be well to quote the section as it was adopted by the Convention 
of 1890:1 

There shall be a common school fund which shall consist of the poll tax 
(to be retained in the counties where the same is collected) and an additional 
sum from the general fund of the state treasury, which together shall be 
sufficient to maintain the common schools for the term of four months in 
each scholastic year. But any county or separate school district may levy 
an additional tax to maintain its schools for a longer time than four months. 
The common school fund shall be distributed among the several counties 
and separate districts in proportion to the number of educable children in 
each, to be determined from data collected through the office of the State 
Superintendent of Education, in the manner to be prescribed by law. 

At first sight it might appear that such a law would furnish an 
equitable distribution of the school fund, since it requires the rich and 
prosperous sections of the state to lend support to the schools in the 
less prosperous sections. In Mississippi conditions have been such as 
to make the plan prove a very inequitable means of distribution. 

The situation was complicated by the unequal distribution of 
the population. In the sparsely settled poor counties the white race 
predominated. The Negro population of the state in 1890 was 
742,559; of this number 401,639 were concentrated in twenty-three 
counties, in the ratio of 362 to every 100 whites.^ In addition, 

' Constitution of 1890, Section 206. 

2 United States Commissioner's Report, 1900-1901, Kelly Miller: The Education of the 
Negro, p. 741. 



Distribution of the School Fund 91 

191,420 Negroes inhabited sixteen other counties, in the ratio of 
130 to every 100 whites. This accounts for 593,059 out of the 
742,559* or nearly eighty per cent., which portion of the population 
was made up largely of tenants on the rich Delta and prairie lands 
of the state, outnumbering the whites in certain counties more than 
eight to one. Thus the section of the state on which the common- 
wealth might rely to defray a part of the expense of maintaining 
schools in the sparsely settled counties, was itself burdened with a 
large non-tax-paying population. 

It was very important that the state school fund be equitably 
distributed since the schools at this time were drawing a large part 
of their support from this fund. The superintendent in 1895 de- 
clared that seventy-four and one-half per cent, of all school funds 
was provided by the poll tax and the state distribution, and that 
only about fourteen per cent, was coming from local taxation. ^ The 
expenditures for all educational purposes in 1 892-1 893 amounted 
to $1,321,012, or the equivalent of 7.1 mills on the total assessed 
valuation of all property.'* For this year Mississippi led all southern 
states in this particular, and stood eighth among the states of the 
Union. Mississippi was thus going to an extreme in levying a state 
tax, and was neglecting to encourage the local units to help them- 
selves. The general practice of the majority of the states was to 
levy a small state tax and thus force the local units to make heavy 
levies for their schools. In most states the general tax did not 
exceed eighteen per cent. From the facts that have preceded it 
may readily be inferred that an equitable distribution of the state 
school fund was very important. 

The wording of Section 206 was of doubtful meaning. It is hard 
to tell whether the framers of the section intended that the poll tax 
should be left in the counties, and only the state fund distributed 
according to the number of educable children, or whether the poll 
tax was to be combined with the state fund and the whole sum dis- 
bursed in this way. At any rate, the second interpretation was 
accepted, and the poll tax, although retained in the counties, was 
considered a part of the state distribution. While the first inter- 
pretation unquestionably meant a more equitable distribution of 
the school fund among the tax-payers, it made the distribution less 

' Report of Superintendent, 1893-1895, p. 24. 
^ Ibid., 1891-1893, p. 4. 



92 Public Schools in Mississippi 

equitable for the children, white and colored. The interpretation 
which was accepted therefore worked to the advantage of the 
Negro schools — at least to the advantage of the counties in which 
the colored race was dominant. This we shall understand presently. 

The year 1 892-1 893 was marked by a slump of 7,527 in the enrol- 
ment of the whites in the public schools,^ and by an increase of 1,523 
in the enrolment of Negroes. The figures for average attendance 
showed a similar tendency. First-grade white teachers decreased 
361, and first-grade Negro teachers decreased "jy, 119 white and 96 
colored schools were closed; 338 fewer white teachers, and 87 fewer 
colored teachers were employed this year than the year before; 
white salaries decreased $45,275 and Negro salaries, $20,341. The 
whites showed a decrease in all items, while the Negroes showed 
marked gains in some instances. 

The superintendent assigned as the reason for the slump the un- 
just workings of Section 206 which had just gone into effect, but, 
since the figures for the next year indicate a return almost to normal 
enrolment, attendance, etc., it is doubtful if this cause operated to 
the extent he feared. Nevertheless, Mr. Preston's statistical investi- 
gation of the inequality of the means of distribution is of interest 
just here. 

He pointed out that in Washington and Bolivar Counties, where 
the Negroes outnumbered the whites more than eight to one, the 
schools were run seven and five months respectively; whereas, in 
Jones and Smith, where the whites outnumbered the blacks five to 
one, Jones had had a term of sixty-five days, and Smith a term of 
seventy-seven, or considerably less than four months each. The 
average salary of teachers in the two Delta counties had been about 
$37.00, and in the two white counties, about $16.00. By way of 
summary, he said:^ 

In many of the white counties, where the population is sparse, salaries are 
so meager that teachers cannot be employed, and the schools of many dis- 
tricts are not taught at all, while in others, the patrons are compelled to 
supplement the salary paid by the county. 

In the biennial reports both for 1 891-1893 and for 1 893-1 895, 
the statistical studies which attempted to prove the inequality 
of the means of distribution are very interesting. The chief point 

^ Report of Superintendent, 1891-1893, p. i. 
^ Ibid., p. 2. 



Distribution of the School Fund 93 

attacked was the inequality caused by considering the poll tax col- 
lected in each county as a part of the state distribution. The super- 
intendent compared statistical data collected from ten 'black coun- 
ties' with data collected from ten 'white counties'. He showed that, 
according to the current plan, the white counties of the state received 
more from the school fund than they paid into it; that a large part 
of the tax which they paid consisted of the tax on white polls; fur- 
ther, that the black counties paid fewer poll taxes, and, in propor- 
tion to their wealth, contributed little toward the support of schools 
in other counties. 

Certain conclusions which the superintendent drew, aside from 
proving the inequality of the means of distribution, throw light 
upon school conditions of that day. It will be well to quote them 
in full: 

The white counties have 744 schools, for the support of which they receive 
from the state distribution $89,463, or $120 for each school. The mean aver- 
age term of schools in these counties is 89 days for the country schools, and 
the average salary per month for teachers of both races is $21.76. The aver- 
age salary in nine of these counties is less than $22, and in Pontotoc $25.13, 
which is the highest. 

The black counties have 882 schools; they receive for each $190; have a 
term of ill days, and pay in country schools an average salary of $29.95 — 
the highest being $34 in Bolivar. 

The black counties have 40 per cent, longer terms and pay 37 per cent, 
better salaries, but they enrolled 64 pupils to each school while the white 
counties enrolled 52 pupils. 

In the ten black counties the white teachers numbered 445 and were paid 
in salaries $101,320, or $288 apiece; while the colored teachers numbered 
725 and were paid $80,952, or $112 apiece. 

It thus appears that the main advantage gained by the black counties 
accrues to the white children thereof. 

There are three factors that make it cheaper to maintain schools in the 
black counties, viz., fewer first-grade teachers, larger schools to the teacher, 
a lower percentage of pupils in average attendance. 

In concluding his investigation, the superintendent recommended 
an amendment to the constitution^ to remedy the situation. His 
plan was to cut the amount of the state distribution to a three- 
months' allowance, and to force the counties to levy for the support 
of their schools an amount not less than one-fifth of the state appor- 
' Report of Superintendent, 1893-1895, p. 30. 



94 Public Schools in Mississippi 

tionment. From the fund thus raised counties were to be required 
to maintain schools for four months. The plan contemplated the 
raising of the school fund by a two-dollar poll tax (to be retained 
in the counties), by a two-mill ad valorem tax, and by setting aside 
one-half the state revenues derived from the taxation of railroads. 

It seems to have been generally conceded, even by those who 
wished the Negro to have every opportunity for education, that 
the provision for the distribution of the school fund furnished by 
Section 206, was partial and unfair. The superintendent pleaded 
with the legislature of 1892 to submit an amendment to the people. 
Such an amendment was reported favorably in the House, but failed 
to receive the constitutional majority required to pass it.^ In 1894, 
an amendment passed the third reading in the House by a vote of 
82 to 19, and was lost in the Senate 20 to 19.^ In 1896, Governor 
Stone recommended an amendment which would require the 
counties to assist in the support of the schools. In this he seems to 
have concurred with the state superintendent. The same year a 
Senate Concurrent Resolution to amend Section 206 so as to impose 
an ad valorem tax of two mills, passed the Senate by a vote of 
33 to II, but was lost in the House by 51 to 46.^'' An unsuccessful 
attempt was made in the Senate to amend the measure just men- 
tioned, so as to provide for the division of the school funds between 
the races in proportion to the amount of taxes paid by each. In 
1900 four bills were before the Senate offering to amend the section. 
One was indefinitely postponed ; one failed to pass ; one was with- 
drawn; one never came to a vote.^^ Attempts to amend the sec- 
tion have been made during almost every succeeding session of the 
legislature. 

From the above survey it is clear that the legislature would have 
adopted a different plan of distribution if a plurality vote could 
have secured an amendment to the constitution. The texts of the 
various amendments which were proposed have never been pub- 
lished, so we have no means of determining to what extent these sug- 
gestions would have affected the education of the Negro. We know, 
however, that the suggestion to divide the school fund, placed before 

* House Journal, 1892, p. 804. 

' Senate Journal, 1894, p. 253. 

»" Ibid., 1896, S. C. R. Nos. 5 and 11. 

" Ibid., 1900, p. 730. 



Distribution of the School Fund 95 

the Senate in 1896, would have been a sore discrimination against 
Negro schools. 

Superintendent Preston, after a period of service covering ten 
strenuous years, was succeeded in 1896 by A. A. Kincannon. Mr. 
Kincannon shared Mr. Preston's views in regard to the education 
of the Negro and the inequality of the present means of distribu- 
tion. His position is defined in the following quotation -.i^ 

The evil effects of Section 206 are causing grave unrest with many tax- 
payers and with many thoughtful citizens of the state. Smarting under the 
impositions of this section, some have unwisely suggested that this method 
of apportionment be so modified that the school fund shall be divided be- 
tween the races according to the tax money paid by each race. To the con- 
servative man this proposition is not only unwise but dangerous. The propo- 
sition to divide the school funds according to the taxes paid by the two races 
of the state, followed to its logical conclusion, means that the poor man shall 
have only such educational advantages as he provides by taxing himself. 

The new superintendent's remedy for the situation was substan- 
tially the same as that of his predecessor. He would have the poll 
tax retained in the counties and supplemented by the state and local 
levies to an amount sufficient to run the schools at least four 
months. H. L. Whitfield, who succeeded Mr. Kincannon in office 
in September, 1898, also held this view.^^ 

The Distribution of the Common School Fund {1900-1901). The 
agitation to secure a more equitable distribution of the school fund, 
by a substitution or an amendment of Section 206 of the Constitu- 
tion, reached fever heat about 1900. The press of the state, espe- 
cially in the white counties, was alive on the subject.^" State Senator 
Rowan, who in 1896 had offered a resolution proposing a division 
of the school fund between the races, waged a newspaper controversy 
with Major W. H. Gibbs, also a legislator,!^ in which Rowan con- 
tended that he was not opposed to the education of the Negro, but 
to heavy taxes; hence he favored a division of the school funds on 
the basis of the amount of tax paid by each race. Gibbs replied 
that it was unjust and very poor politics thus to break up the 
schools for Negroes, and disturb the harmony existing between the 
races. 

12 Report of Superintendent. 1898-1899, p. 30. 

13 Ihid., p. 10. 

I* Clarion Ledger, December 7, 1899; January 18, 1900. 
" Ibid., December 14, 16, 1899. 



96 Public Schools in Mississippi 

So strong had public sentiment become that Governor Longino 
felt constrained to forestall radical action on the subject by dis- 
cussing it in his inaugural address. ^^ He said in part: 

There has been some urgent insistence for the submission by this legisla- 
ture of an amendment to the state Constitution to provide for the distribution 
of the free school funds between the white and Negro schools of the state, so 
as to give the benefits thereof to each race in proportion to the school taxes 
which each pays . . .Its effect, which would be to take school benefits 
largely from Negro children, would be contrary to that broad philanthropic 
spirit that has moved the great common heart of Christian man and woman- 
hood of Mississippi to a love of justice and fair play toward the weak and 
needy. . . 

The Governor favored an amendment which would cause the 
fund to be distributed on the basis of average attendance in the 
schools. 

Five concurrent resolutions, having as their object the amend- 
ment of Section 206, were introduced in the House in 1900. One of 
these proposed to have the school fund divided on the basis of the 
amount of the tax paid by each race. All were reported adversely 
either by the Committee on Constitution, or by the Committee on 
Education.i^ Four similar bills were before the Senate at this ses- 
sion, but only one seems to have come to a vote. 

Major Vardaman, candidate for the governorship in 1903, made 
a campaign issue of the division of the school fund. His position, to 
state it briefly, was that the money formerly spent on the education 
of the Negro had been wasted, inasmuch as no improvement could 
be noted in the moral nature of the Negro. ^^ To use Mr. Vardaman's 
own words, "His civilization veneer lasts just as long as he remains 
in contact with the white man. Then why squander money on his 
education when the only effect is to spoil a good field hand and 
make an insolent cook." He advocated the amendment of Section 
206, so as to leave the distribution of the school funds entirely in the 
hands of the legislature.^^ 

The legislature of 1904 wrote into the constitution an amend- 
ment 2** to Section 206, which provided for the retention of the poll 

" Senate Journal, 1900, p. 93. 

1' House Journal, 1900, p. 326. 

" Times-Democrat, report of Crystal Springs Chautauqua speech, July 23, 1903. 

" Inaugural Address, Senate Journal, 1904, p. 123; 1908, p. 10. 

20 Laws of 1904, Chap. 173. 



Distribution of the School Fund 97 

tax in the counties. The framers of the constitution seem to have 
intended that this tax be kept in the counties and not considered 
a part of the state distribution, but a faulty wording of Section 206 
prevented their intentions from being carried out. Ever since 1895 
attempts had been made to rectify the error but a constitutional 
majority could never be secured in the legislature. 

Messrs. Noel and Critz, representing what was known in the news- 
papers as the conservative element, were defeated for the guber- 
natorial nomination by Vardaman in 1903. This seemed to give 
the endorsement of the state to Vardaman's plan for distributing 
the school fund, but the issue was not pressed. Noel, who was 
again a candidate in 1907, was elected, and, in his inaugural address, 
expressed his approval of a plan to distribute the fund on the basis 
of average attendance.^^ An amendment proposing such a means of 
distribution was introduced in the House, but was lost along with 
eight other bills which had in view the amendment of Section 206. 
The Committee on Constitution reported unfavorably seven such 
bills in one day.^^ Three such bills got an unfavorable report in the 
Senate. The bill which gained the largest following in the House 
during this session was House Concurrent Resolution No. i, which 
proposed to create a "county school fund, a state school fund, and 
a state common school fund." This, however, was finally tabled, 
and when brought up before the next legislature was defeated by a 
large majority. An attempt to amend Section 206 was successful 
enough to reach a vote in the Senate in 19 10, but failed to pass. 

These successive and persistent attempts to amend Section 206, 
covering as they have nearly twenty years, indicate widespread 
discontent with the constitutional method of distributing the school 
fund. Four governors and three state superintendents were pro- 
nounced in their opposition. The legislature, however, seems to 
have been averse to making a change. The only amendment which 
was ever made, was a slight change which required that the poll 
tax should henceforth be retained in the counties, and should not 
form a part of the state distribution. The prolonged agitation of 
the question undoubtedly caused public sentiment to be kindled 
against the education of the Negro. 

"' Senate Journal, 1908, p. 167. 
22 House Journal, 1908, p. 372. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE CURRICULUM 

Period Between 1886 and igoo. The revised school laws of 1886 
state that the subjects required for teachers' examinations should 
constitute the course of study. ^ The law of 1878 with respect to 
teachers' examinations was modified to some extent. "The higher 
branches of English literature" and bookkeeping requirements were 
eliminated, and in their places were substituted English composi- 
tion, physiology, and mental arithmetic. In this connection it is 
interesting to note that when the new school law came before the 
state Senate^ in 1886 it failed to pass, chiefly because of a clause 
requiring physiology to be taught with "special reference to the 
effects of alcoholics upon the human system." Several days later, 
however, the troublesome clause was pruned out and the bill passed 
by a good majority. 

The school reformers had to wait until 1892 to get the clause with 
reference to alcoholics incorporated into law.^ The revision of the 
law provided for in the Annotated Code of 1892, offered an oppor- 
tunity not only for this addition but also for the introduction of two 
other statutory subjects, Mississippi history and civil government. 

The teaching of United States history since Reconstruction days 
had been watched by the lovers of the old South with jealous atten- 
tion. If the history used in the schools treated the Civil War from 
the northern point of view, it found instant condemnation. By 
statute of 1890,^ the state superintendent, the attorney general, 
and the governor were named as a committee to examine history 
texts and to place their approval upon such as were deemed suit- 
able for use in the schools of the state. 

Perhaps one of the best means of determining the upper limits 
of the course of study in Negro schools will be an investigation of the 
entrance requirements of such institutions as Alcorn and Holly 

'Laws of i886, Chap. XXIV, Sections 49-53. 

2 Senate Journal, 1886, pp. 516, 561. 

3 Annotated Code of 1892, 4016-4018. 
* Laws of 1890, Chap. 74. 



The Curriculum 99 

Springs State Normal. Institutions of this type are forced to place 
their course within reach of the public schools. In 1888 we find that 
Alcorn ^ was requiring all applicants for entrance to stand an exami- 
nation on White's Intermediate Arithmetic, Swinton's Fourth 
Reader, Monteith's Manual of Geography, and Swinton's Word-Book. 
In other words, fourth- or fifth-grade preparation would secure 
admittance. For admission to the State Normal, preparation 
slightly more advanced than this was required. Judging from 
these facts we may fix the upper limits of public school instruction 
for Negroes somewhere near the fourth or fifth grade. It is highly 
probable that only the more "promising lads" got this far. 

By 1890 the law requiring uniform texts in each county seems to 
have been observed with a fair degree of satisfaction. In order to 
convey an idea of the popularity of certain texts the following figures 
have been tabulated from the report of the state superintendent:^ 

Swinton's Word-Book was used in twenty-eight counties. 

McGuffey's Readers in twenty-six. 

Maury's Geography in thirty-three. 

Robinson's Mental Arithmetic in fifty-seven. 

Robinson's Practical Arithmetic in forty-seven. 

Reed and Kellogg's Grammar in thirty-eight. 

Reed and Kellogg's Composition in seventeen. 

Chambers' History in forty-six. 

Steele's Physiology in forty-six. 

Steele's Natural Philosophy in sixty-one. 

To one familiar with these text-books the nature of the curriculum 
is apparent. McGuffey's Readers with their stories with a moral 
purpose, and Robinson's Arithmetics with their superfluous rules, 
and problems involving the length of time it would take A, B, and C 
to do a piece of work — good old-fashioned texts, dog-eared with ser- 
vice since 1870 — were still holding their own. Swinton's Word- 
Book, however, with its "Tough Enough Lesson" and others rivaling 
it in toughness, was now taking the place of Webster's "old blue- 
back speller.'' Coming in with the nineties, the innovation of dia- 
grams in Reed and Kellogg's Grammar captivated teachers on the 
verge of despair over the inability of pupils to comprehend the 
abstract formality of old-time grammar. Along with the newer 

5 Report of Superintendent, 1888-1889, p. 392. 
^ Ibid., 1890-1891, p. 457. 



100 Public Schools in Mississippi 

texts appeared also Steele's Physiology with its catalog of bones 
and terrible story of the effect of alcohol upon the tissues of the 
body. Steele's Natural Philosophy, a forerunner of the recently 
organized general science course, was generally popular. On the 
whole, we may say that, although still very formal, there were 
evidences of improvement in the nature of the curriculum. 

It can hardly be gainsaid that arithmetic and grammar domi- 
nated the curriculum of this period. Much stress seems to have been 
placed upon solving complicated problems in percentage, square 
and cube root, and mensuration. In the Outlines for Institutes and 
in the uniform examination ^ questions, published in the superin- 
tendent's reports, there seems to have been an effort to make the 
work in arithmetic serve a practical purpose, but it is very doubt- 
ful if the instruction deviated far into the practical. The work in 
mental arithmetic consisted in the solving of problems in the funda- 
mental processes, fractions, profit and loss, discount, and interest, 
according to a formal 'model analysis'. 

Grammar and composition were of a most formal character. Here 
is a question in the examination on composition in 1886:^ "Write 
a composition of ten lines on cotton, using it in a compound, com- 
plex, a declarative, an interrogative, and an imperative sentence." 
Composition as an art seems seldom to have been taught. Instruc- 
tion in composition consisted of a study of style, figures of speech, 
and the forms of discourse. It must be admitted, however, that 
some attention was paid to letter writing— just how much, it is 
hard to say. In grammar, parsing and diagraming, leading to famil- 
iarity with the parts of speech and with syntax, furnished the basis 
of the course. 

In the teaching of geography, the Outlines for Institutes indicate 
commendable progress in method. Under the heading, "Things to 
be Avoided in Studying Geography" the Outlines list the following: 

a. Memorizing the text-books. 

h. Giving too much time to things of little importance to the pupil. 

c. Failure to give due attention to those places and things of prime impor- 
tance; such as: i. Great commercial and manufacturing centers. 2. Places 
of historical importance. 3. Rivers valuable to commerce. 4. Mountain 
ranges and ocean currents, as modifying the climate and commerce of 
countries. 

' Report of Superintendent, 1886-1887. 
8 Ibid., 1886-1887, Outlines for Institutes; examination questions. 



The Curriculum loi 

It was also suggested that the pupil be made thoroughly familiar 
with the geography of his state and community. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that the Outlines represent the most advanced 
theory, and that possibly only the best teachers in the most pro- 
gressive communities even attempted to put them into practice. 

The social and civic value of United States history seems scarcely 
to have been comprehended. The introduction of civil government 
in 1892, however, indicates that there was a conscious striving 
toward the ideal of good citizenship. 

As early as 1886 teachers were interested in the discussion of 
the relative merits of the phonic, word and alphabetic methods of 
teaching reading. The Outlines suggest that some attention be 
paid to silent reading. Under the lax system of supervision in the 
rural schools it is doubtful if new theories gained very wide ac- 
ceptance. The alphabetic method was certainly in use until quite 
recently. 

From the Outlines for Institutes, from the examination ques- 
tions, and from the texts that were used, we get but an imperfect 
idea of what was actually done in the schools. If white rural 
communities have been backward and loath to exchange old-fash- 
ioned ideas and practices for new, we may be sure that the Negro 
communities with no supervision, and with little light to illuminate 
a new pathway, have been even more inclined to remain in the ruts. 
Formal instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, and spelling, with 
possibly a smattering of United States history, geography and physi- 
ology, represents about what the Negro schools had to offer the 
colored youth of Mississippi. 

The Curriculum from igoo to igio. The opening of the new cen- 
tury found the curriculum still formal, and directed chiefly toward 
a disciplinary end. Arithmetic and grammar were still at the head. 
The Outlines for Institutes which appeared in 1901 ^ stated the aim 
of arithmetic as follows: "The cultivation of the power to reason 
and the formation of the habit of accurate and rapid calculation 
are the two great motives in the teaching of arithmetic." Of the 
aim of grammar the Outlines said: "The primary purpose of the 
study of grammar is the excellent mental discipline its study fur- 
nishes; of the secondary purposes, the acquirement of knowledge 
for the basis of other language teaching is the more important, 

'Report of Superintendent, 1900-1901, pp. 166, 173. 



I02 Public Schools in Mississippi 

while least important of all is the acquirement of knowledge for 
guidance in speaking and writing." These statements indicate the 
formal character of the instruction of the day. 

But the leaven of progress was at work. A decided tendency 
toward the enrichment of the program of studies is discernible in 
the same pages which voice the foregoing disciplinary ideals. Nature 
study, story-telling, singing, physical culture, busy work in clay, 
drawing, cutting and folding paper, make their appearance in the 
Outlines. It is probable, however, that these subjects were inci- 
dental and that they claimed little of the time heretofore devoted 
to the formal subjects. Surely they were not taught in all schools; 
more likely they found their way but slowly into even the best 
schools. We may observe in this connection that the principle of 
correlation was accepted, particularly in the case of geography, 
nature study, reading, language, spelling, and history. 

There began to develop at this time a deepening consciousness 
that the schools were designed to serve the immediate needs of the 
people. The recognition of the fact that the problem of education 
in Mississippi is mainly the problem of making the rural masses 
socially efficient, was gaining headway. A committee of five, 
appointed in 1901 by the State Teachers' Association,^" reported 
in 1903 a very elaborate and revolutionary plan for the reorganiza- 
tion of education. The report, which is perhaps the most impor- 
tant educational document in the recent history of the state, 
attacked the traditional curriculum because of its failure to func- 
tion in the lives of the people. At least four important changes 
were recommended. 

1. That the amount of time and attention devoted to arithmetic 
should be reduced by eliminating the distinction between 'practical' 
and 'mental' arithmetic and by consolidating the two separate sub- 
jects into one. By applying the knife to the old text and eliminating 
involution, evolution, allegation, progressions, permutations, foreign 
exchange, etc., the committee hoped to do away with much use- 
less matter, and to save much time for practical study. 

2. That the study of composition should be made more practical. 
It was freely acknowledged that grammar had failed to function in 
conversation and writing, and that formal instruction in composi- 
tion, such as had heretofore been given, had accomplished little. 

" Report of Superintendent, 1901-1903, p. 82. 



The Curriculum 103 

The committee recommended that language lessons be intro- 
duced into the elementary course, and that more attention be 
devoted to the art of speaking and writing. 

3. That sight-singing, free-hand drawing, and manual training 
be introduced wherever possible. Attention to these subjects, how- 
ever, was not stressed by the committee. 

4. That natural philosophy be dropped from the list of statutory 
subjects and that the elements of agriculture be inserted in its 
place. This is perhaps the most important change that was sug- 
gested. By way of explaining its attitude toward this subject, the 
report says : 

It is evident that the course of study in this state needs readjustment in 
order to bring it into touch with its surroundings and in order to adapt it to 
the needs of rural life. Mississippi is predominantly an agricultural state and 
must always remain so, as her only natural resource is found in her soil. The 
prosperity of the state is directly dependent upon the development of her 
agricultural interests. The education of the country boy and girl should 
awaken an intelligent interest in the things immediately about them. . . 
It should make evident to them that a trained intelligence brought to bear 
upon the problems of farm life is a necessity for the highest success. The 
child should be taught to appreciate the beauty and independence of coun- 
try life and be satisfied with it. 

This final suggestion of the committee met with a favorable recep- 
tion and we find it incorporated into law in the Annotated Code of 
1906." Dating from this report there has been an ever-increasing 
tendency toward the adaptation of the curriculum to meet the needs 
of the people. This tendency is perhaps not so evident in changes 
in the course of study as it is in the methods employed, in the 
broadening range of school activities, and in the general spirit of 
the school. The organization of corn clubs among school boys re- 
ceived a substantial backing when in 1908 the county supervisors 
were authorized by law ^^ to appropriate fifty dollars in prizes to 
the work. Sanitation and hygiene were in the meantime being pro- 
moted by the efforts of a field agent of the School Improvement 
Association.^^ 

To what extent did the progressive spirit of the new century 
enter into the Negro schools? We may be sure that the statutory 

" Annotated Code of 1906, 4543. 

'-Laws of 1908, Chap. 104. 

'^Report of Superintendent, 1909-1911, p. 8. 



104 Public Schools in Mississippi 

subjects were introduced into the schools, but whether they were 
capably taught is another matter. The state supervisor of rural 
schools in 191 1 reported that ^* fully seventy-five per cent, of all 
rural schools were one-teacher schools, in which the teachers were 
required to hear on an average of thirty recitations a day. In the 
crowded Negro schools we may easily infer that conditions were not 
at all favorable for instruction. Agriculture, hygiene, and language 
study, the subjects most needed by the Negroes, must have been 
poorly taught at best. Besides, since these subjects are usually 
taught in the upper grades, and very few pupils remained long in 
school, few received instruction in them. Corn club activities, and 
activities such as were conducted by the School Improvement 
Association, only in rare instances, if ever, were allied with Negro 
schools. 

Elsewhere in this treatise I have quoted statements ^^ which indi- 
cate the position of Senator Vardaman with reference to the curricu- 
lum of the Negro schools. He expressed the opinion that literary 
education had in no way improved the character of the Negro, and 
suggested that the state revise its plan and "educate his heart and 
his hands, give him, if possible, a moral basis to build upon." '" He 
did not suggest, however, the details of a curriculum for attaining 
this purpose. The only important suggestion that has been ofifered 
for a reorganization along these lines is one to be found in the 
Address of the President of the State Teachers' Association in 1905.^^ 
It was here proposed to limit the course of study in Negro schools 
on its intellectual side to the 'three R's', and to provide ample 
training along industrial and moral lines. The president character- 
ized the attempt to give high school or classical education to the 
Negro as "giving a stone to him who asks for bread." 

These suggestions have not borne fruit. The same curriculum is 
used in both white and colored schools. The 'three R's' constitute 
the basis, as they always have, and, because of the fact that Negro 
children drop out of school early, very few get more than an imper- 
fect knowledge of even these subjects. 

" Report of Superintendent 1909-1911, p. 8. 

'^ See page no. 

" House Journal, 1904, p. 840. 

" Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1905, p. 27. 



CHAPTER X 

PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN REGARD TO THE EDUCATION 
OF THE NEGRO SINCE 1886 

Public Sentiment, 1886 to igoo. The sentiment of the leading 
citizens of the state, with few exceptions, has always favored giving 
the Negroes equal opportunities of elementary education. This 
may be said, so far as the state government is concerned, to have been 
the dominant sentiment, despite the reservations that must be made 
with respect to the counties. Yet, it must be admitted that there 
has also been a strong element of opposition, which seems to have 
centered on the question of the proper division between the races 
of the funds for the support of schools. As the public school system 
increased in favor with the white people, and as its demands became 
heavier and heavier, this question came more and more prominently 
into the foreground. Evidences in support of the foregoing generali- 
zations may be found in the reports of the state superintendent, in 
the legislative journals, in the Proceedings of the State Teachers' 
Association, and in the public press. 

The attitude of Superintendent Preston, to whom is largely due 
the credit for the organization of the machinery of the school system, 
was avowedly in favor of Negro education. His report in 1889 
contains the following statement:^ 

Confronted and impeded by the illiteracy and poverty of the colored race, 
in knitting up the sinews of our shattered civilization, we have for nineteen 
years treated the Negro fairly, nay generously, in the distribution of our 
scanty school revenues, and have sought to elevate him in morality and 
intelligence. We cannot afford to be unjust to this illiterate portion of our 
population; ignorance and its concomitant vices offer only continuous 
degradation, shiftlessness, and crime. 

In 1887, the State Teachers' Association passed a resolution 
commending the educational progress of the Negro. ^ The subject 
of Negro education was discussed not only at this meeting but also 

' Report of Superintendent, 1888-1889, p. 31. 
^ Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1887. 



io6 Public Schools in Mississippi 

at the meetings in 1889 and 1892. The East Mississippi Teachers' 
*■ Association also discussed the question. The titles of the discussions 
indicate that the teachers were impressed with the obligation of the 
white race to maintain colored schools. ^ The need of industrial 
education for Negroes was voiced in these discussions. 

The point of view of the tax-payer was set forth by a county 
superintendent of one of the Delta counties at the meeting in 1887. 
"When you ask me," said he, "to discuss the cause of education in the 
Delta, you ask me to show you how it is that one white man is to 
Interest himself enough in this great cause to induce him to pay for 
the education of nine colored children along with his own." He 
asserted that the Delta landlord "cheerfully bears this burden," 
and expressed his confidence in the ability of the Negro to learn. 
He believed that agricultural schools should be established for the 
instruction of the colored race. 

The legislature of 1886 passed a resolution endorsing the 'Blair 
Bill' then before Congress, and urging the senators and congressmen 
representing the state to support it.^ This bill provided for the ex- 
tension of federal aid for the education of the Negro. The Missis- 
sippi Teacher, August, 1889, stated that the entire delegation in 
Congress favored the bill, and mentioned the names of Lamar and 
George in this connection. This journal urged the teachers of the 
state to endorse it at their next meeting. The Raymond Gazette 
in 1887 opposed the bill.^ When finally in 1890 the bill came before 
the Senate, Senator George voted for it, and Senator Walthall 
voted against it. 

While these bits of evidence show decidedly that there was a 
strong public sentiment in favor of Negro education, there is other 
evidence which shows that there was developing a considerable 
sentiment in opposition to taxing the white people to support it. 
In 1889 Superintendent Preston found it necessary to satisfy a cer- 
tain political element that the present limits of the school age — five 
to twenty-one — did not work to the advantage of the colored race.^ 
The trend of the discussion of the Article on Education, when it 
came up for adoption before the Constitutional Convention of 1890, 

' Report of Superintendent, 1888-1889; 1891-1893, p. 554. 

* House Journal, 1886, p. 233. 

^ Raymond Gazette, January 29, 1887. 

'Report of Superintendent, 1 888-1 889, p. 11. 



Public Sentiment and Education of the Negro 107 

is perhaps the truest index of public opinion on this subject. The 
Committee on Education on August 28 presented a majority report 
on the Article. '^ Shortly afterward, a minority report signed by 
six members was handed in,^ which objected in particular to a sec- 
tion which proposed to make an annual state distribution to the 
schools of $750,000. The argument in part reads as follows: 

The people are willing to maintain a free school system at a reasonable 
expense; but under present conditions, with a large majority of the educable 
children belonging to a race which differs from that which pays the cost, a 
race which contributes but a small part of the moneys called for, which seeks 
to grow yearly more and more alienated from our own, it is not to be ex- 
pected that our people will fail to look with a jealous eye on the creation and 
distribution of a fund so enormous and so partial in its results. 

This was a signal for a wrestle with substitutes and amendments 
which continued at intervals for a month and a half. In consider- 
ing the section on the distribution of the school fund. Dr. Robinson, 
of Rankin, at different times offered two amendments providing for 
the division of the fund between the schools of the races in propor- 
tion to the amount of the taxes paid.^ The first he withdrew to 
propose a substitute which, with an amendment by Mr. Dillard, was 
adopted as Section 206. After securing the passage of this fatal 
section, Robinson, still bent on a division of the funds between the 
races, proposed an additional section having this in view. It was 
defeated by a vote of eighty-one to thirty-one.^ 

There were further attempts to accomplish a division of the funds. 
Noland, of Wilkinson, proposed to divide county and separate dis- 
trict funds on this basis. ^^ Magruder proposed to have special 
county and separate district funds so divided.^^ His amendment 
was defeated by a vote of fifty-seven to fifty-three, twenty-three 
being absent. An attempt to make the minimum limit of the 
school age seven instead of five, with the ostensible purpose of dis- 
criminating against the Negroes, was defeated by a vote of sixty- 
seven to thirty-eight. ^2 

'Journal of Constitutional Convention, 1890, p. 118. 

* Ibid., p. 131. 

9 Ibid., pp. 329, 337, 355. 

"> Ibid., p. 345. 

" Ibid. 

12 Ibid., p. 329. 



io8 Public Schools in Mississippi 

Taken as a whole, the discussion indicates that there were two 
well-defined factions in the convention, one which favored giving 
the Negro at least the educational advantages which he had hereto- 
fore enjoyed, the other which favored giving him only such as he 
was able to pay for with the taxes which he contributed. The first 
of these factions was in control, and may be called the conservative 
element. The second faction, however, was able to muster up a 
considerable following, as is evident by the votes on the Robinson 
and Magruder amendments. 

As a further index of public opinion, we may note just here the 
division of the legislature on the subject of the distribution of the 
school fund. It would be unfair to say that those who favored dis- 
tributing the school fund on a basis other than that of school 
population, were opposed to the education of the Negro. Superin- 
tendent Preston, Governor Stone, and Superintendent Kincannon 
were outspoken in favor of Negro education, but all were opposed 
to the adopted means of distribution. Again, we may naturally 
suppose that the counties which were discriminated against by this 
measure, would oppose it; and that those counties in whose favor it 
worked, would uphold it, regardless of their attitude toward Negro 
education. Yet, the agitation to change the means of distribution, 
which unquestionably increased in vehemence throughout this 
period, carried with it an increasing disposition to make the Negro 
pay for his own education. This is borne out by the statement of 
Superintendent Kincannon, quoted elsewhere, and by an amend- 
ment proposed in the legislature in 1896.^^ 

In answer to the question of the state superintendent as to the 
state of public opinion (i 891-1893), twelve county superintendents 
reported opposition to Negro education. ^^ The counties represented 
in these reports were Carroll, Franklin, Grenada, Holmes, Jefferson, 
Lowndes, Lawrence, Marshall, Noxubee, Pike, Sharkey, Yalobusha. 
Among the reasons assigned for opposition were: "We are paying 
out too much money to educate the Negro," "whites complain that 
they have been taxed enough to support Negro schools," "want of 
confidence in the education of the Negro." One superintendent re- 
ferred to what he called a growing disposition for each race to 
educate its own children; another claimed that the whites were 

*' See Distribution of the School Fund, page 95. 

^* Report of Superintendent, 1891-1893, Narrative Reports. 



Public Sentiment and Education of the Negro 109 

entitled to a longer term. It must be remembered that these reports 
came from only twelve out of seventy counties. Whether or not 
sentiment in other counties favored public education of the Negro 
we have no means of finding out. 

The State Ledger, in 1892,^'^ complained of the new system of appor- 
tionment which had been changed "for the advantage of the blacks, 
and in many instances, to the detriment of the white counties." 

Despite protests, we may be sure that there was a large element 
that favored giving the Negro proper educational facilities. The 
teaching profession of this period, as of every other period which we 
are to consider, have left record of their confidence in Negro educa- 
tion. A prominent teacher, speaking before the State Teachers' 
Association in 1894, said in part:^^ 

. . . if we want to suppress crime so prevalent among our black neigh- 
bors, and make useful and respected citizens of them, and get them to look 
at life from a Caucasian standpoint, we must employ more efificient teachers 
for them, encourage an educational spirit among them, and lengthen out their 
school term, so as to give them 140 days during the year for school. 

A little later in the same speech the speaker touched upon the 
question of apportionment and expressed himself as follows: 

The eyes of the South were fixed on Mississippi during the last legislature 
to see what disposition of the question it would make, and be it said to the 
eternal praise of that body, that they decided to distribute the money col- 
lected from the people equally among the two races per capita. 

Superintendent Kincannon, in 1899, stating his position on the 
apportionment question, said:^'^ 

Do not understand, please, that I would take from any child, white.or 
black, in the state, that which the constitution intends that he should have, 
for I believe that education is the panacea for nearly all the ills from which 
society suffers. 

By way of summarizing the public sentiment of the white people 
for the period between 1886 and 1900, we may say: (i) that the 
controlling element in state politics were unwilling for any dis- 
crimination to be practised upon the Negro; (2) that the State 
Department of Education and the State Teachers' Association con- 

15 State Ledger, April S, 1892. 

1* Proceedings, Mississippi Teachers' Association, 1894, p. 27. 

" Report of Superintendent, 1898-1899, p. 30 



no Public Schools in Mississippi 

sistently favored the education of the race; (3) that the need of in- 
dustrial education for the Negro seems to have interested a few 
educators; (4) that there was hostihty to Negro education between 
1890 and 1900 which seems to have increased in intensity with 
the unrest due to an unsatisfactory means of distributing the 
school fund. 

Public Sentiment Since igoo. We have called attention to the 
agitation for the division of the school fund which accompanied 
the demand for a more equitable distribution among the counties. 
This agitation seemed to increase in intensity through the nineties 
and the early years of the new century. The conservative element 
seems easily to have prevented all attempts to discriminate against 
Negro schools by taking away their support. Such an attempt was 
thwarted in the legislature in 1896, and again in 1900.^^ But in 
blocking these attempts the conservatives seem to have blocked all 
efforts tending toward an equitable division of the school funds. 

The chief exponent of the political element which favored a divi- 
sion of the school fund on the basis of the amount of tax paid, or 
at least favored devoting a large part of the school fund to the 
education of the white children, was Major Vardaman. It would 
be well just here to have a statement of his position in his own 
words : ^^ 

Certainly, the education suited to the white children does not suit the 
Negro. This has been demonstrated by forty years of experience and the 
expenditure in the southern states of nearly $300,000,000. It was natural 
and quite reasonable, immediately after the Civil War, especially by those 
who had made but a superficial study of the Negro, to expect that freedom, 
equal educational facilities, and the example of the white man, would have 
the effect of improving his morals and make a better man of him generally. 
But it has not, I am sorry to say. As a race, he is deteriorating morally 
every day. . . The state for many years, at great expense to the tax- 
payers, has maintained a system of Negro education, which has produced 
disappointing results, and I am opposed to the perpetuation of the system. 
My idea is that the character of Negro education should be changed. . . 
There must be a moral sub-stratum upon which to build, or you cannot make 
a desirable citizen. The Negro is devoid of that element. . . The first 
step toward the changing of the education system of the state, so as 
to meet the demands of both races, it occurs to me, is for the legislature to 

" See page 96. 

'' Inaugural Address, Senate Journal, 1904, p. 123. 



Public Sentiment and Education of the Negro 1 1 1 

submit to the people a proposition to amend the constitution, so as to give 
the legislature unrestricted authority in dealing with the public school 
question. 

Vardaman's political opponents regarded his scheme as unjust 
and unconstitutional, as well as inexpedient.^" The press of the 
state seems generally to have supported the conservatives. To such 
an extent did the newspapers oppose Vardaman, that Noel, one of 
his opponents for the governorship, was charged with having sub- 
sidized the press, but the charge was not substantiated. ^i 

The legislature of 1904 did not act upon the recommendation of 
Governor Vardaman to amend Section 206 so as to leave the dis- 
tribution of the school funds in the hands of the legislature. Nor 
did the next legislature accomplish anything in this direction. In 
his last biennial message the Governor said : 22 "Why the Legislature 
should hesitate to submit to the people an amendment to the 
constitution so as to change the absurd and expensive system in 
vogue, is an inscrutable mystery to me." 

Although the Governor was unable to have the method of distri- 
buting the school fund changed, he was able to use his veto power 
toward helping to carry out his theory in regard to Negro education. 
When the bill appropriating money for the support of the Holly 
Springs State Normal College came up for his signature, he placed 
his veto on it. This bill had passed the House by a vote of seventy 
to nineteen, and the Senate by a vote of twenty-five to thirteen. 
Vardaman sent the bill back to the House with a three-page veto 
message, which further elaborates his view on the subject of Negro 
education.23 He said in part: 

Literary education — the knowledge of books — does not seem to produce 
any good substantial results with the Negro, but serves to sharpen his cunning, 
breeds hopes that cannot be fulfilled, inspires aspirations that cannot be 
gratified, creates an inclination to avoid labor, promotes indolence, and in 
turn leads to crime. . . I wish it understood that my objection to this 
bill does not grow out of a spirit of race hatred. I have no such feeling for 
the Negro; on the contrary, I wish the race well. I should like to see it 
develop along moral and industrial lines, until it shall become a positive 

20 Times-Democrat report of Noel's Chautauqua address, July 23, 1903; also Longino's 

Inaugural Address. 

21 Times-Democrat, July 20, 1903, Noel's campaign notice. 

22 Biennial Message, Senate Journal, 1908, p. 10. 

23 House Journal, 1904, p. 840. 



112 Public Schools in Mississippi 

factor for good, rather than a menace to civilization; a blessing rather than 
a curse. 

The veto message was made the special order for March 15. An 
attempt in the House to pass the appropriation bill over the gov- 
ernor's veto resulted in a vote of sixty-four to forty-eight, twenty- 
one absent, and thus failed to secure the necessary majority of 
two-thirds. 

A committee of five appointed by the State Teachers' Association 
in 1901, rendered an elaborate report to the Association on May i, 
1903. In discussing the factors which tended to deter the growth 
of rural education they expressed themselves as follows : ^^ 

Probably no other one thing acts as such a drawback to general progress, 
and especially to educational progress in Mississippi, as does this presence 
of an inferior race, not willing or able to bear any considerable portion of the 
burden of taxation; but which, owing to its large numbers, under the opera- 
tion of existing laws receives so large a part of the public funds for education. 
The dominant race is not willing to vote money to be expended for the 
schools of the inferior race. It is not in the province of the Committee to say 
whether or not this indisposition to educate the Negro is proper. Certain it 
is that Doctor Alderman's statement, "The Negro must be educated, igno- 
rance is no remedy for anything; any other theory is monstrous," ought to 
receive the most careful consideration at the hands of all those who have the 
shaping of the educational policy of the state. 

Continuing its report of the situation the committee said that 
the indisposition of the whites to tax themselves for the benefit of 
the Negro had led to apathy in regard to education; that local 
taxation had almost disappeared except in the separate districts; and 
that the state fund was furnishing the entire support of rural schools. 

The question of the education of the Negro came before the 
State Teachers' Association again in 1905, when the president de- 
voted a section of his address to a discussion of the subject. His 
position may be summarized in his own words : ^^ 

Whenever the question of raising additional revenue for educational pur- 
poses is discussed, we are met with opposition on account of: First, the 
failure of our present schools to improve the condition of the Negro — this 
I am compelled to admit is largely true; not the fault of education per se, 
but rather a failure of our methods for the Negro; second, the opinion of 
most people that the Negro is now receiving the larger proportion of our school 

^* Report of Superintendent, 1901-1903, p. 69. 

^^ Proceedings, State Teachers' Association, 1905, President's Address 



Public Sentiment and Education of the Negro 113 

appropriation, when in fact, the opposite is true. . . The discussion of the 
education of the Negro has always been carefully avoided in this association, 
being considered as a political, rather than an educational question; but I 
believe the advancement of the educational interests of our state depends, 
in great measure, upon the proper solution of this question; therefore, as an 
association we should give some consideration to this important part of our 
educational system. 

In concluding his remarks on this subject the president said that 
the Negro should have schools specially adapted to his needs. 
He characterized the attempt to give him a classical education as 
"giving a stone to him who asks for bread." He advocated an en- 
tirely dififerent course of study for Negro schools, a course limited 
on the intellectual side to the 'three R's', but strong on the indus- 
trial and moral sides. No action seems to have been taken by the 
Association on this subject. 

Among the most esteemed citizens of the state within recent years 
was Bishop Charles B. Galloway, the great orator-churchman-states- 
man. Bishop Galloway served for a number of years on the board 
of trustees of Alcorn College, and showed his interest in the educa- 
tion of the Negro in a number of ways. He may be regarded as the 
spokesman of a large number of people when he says:^^ 

. . . I believe the dominant desire of our people has been to deal justly 
and do right. And wherein we have failed the fault has not been all our own. 
. . . And any policy which tends to inflame prejudice and widen the racial 
chasm postpones indefinitely the final triumph of the Son of Man among 
the sons of men. . . I do insist that the Negro have equal opportunity 
with every American citizen. 

We may conclude from these bits of evidence: (i) that there was 
a tendency on the part of a large number of people to resent taxa- 
tion for the support of Negro schools; (2) that the controlling ele- 
ment in state politics seems not to have been inclined toward radical 
action ; (3) that lack of confidence in the results of the work of the 
public schools for Negroes seems to have developed in the minds of 
many; (4) that an increasing tendency to favor moral and indus- 
trial education for the Negro is evident ; (5) that a large number of 
the population favored giving the Negro an opportunity for edu- 
cation and dealing justly with him in every particular. 

36 Jackson Evening News, June 3, 1903; Speech at the laying of corner-stone of the 
new Capitol. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION UPON THE 
LIFE OF THE NEGRO 

It has been frequently asserted that education has had little or 
no influence upon the social and economic progress of the Negro 
race. Indeed, some observers have gone so far as to say that the 
education the Negro has received has been positively detrimental. 
Much that has been said upon this subject is mere assertion and has 
not been subjected to scientific verification. A careful scientific 
study is needed to clarify the matter, but, on account of the scarcity 
of data, it is doubtful if a very complete study is possible. In this 
chapter I have attempted in a fragmentary manner to explain the 
social and economic progress — or lack of progress — of the race, in 
the light of the educational history of the state. 

By way of introduction, it would be well to point out the difficulty 
which awaits one who attempts to place educational opportunities 
and social progress in the relation of cause and efl"ect. For instance, 
f to say that a marked social advance in one generation came in 
response to a liberal provision for education in the generation next 
preceding, may be true, but there is a chance that other factors con- 
tributed largely to bring about the advance. Conversely, to say 
that lack of progress is due to a lack of educational facilities, or to a 
false conception of education, is to state what may prove to be but 
a half-truth. Yet, if, as in the present instance, we analyze a total 
situation, and find in several selected lines of social activity a close 
parallelism with educational conditions, we are probably justified 
in placing the two in the relation of cause and efi"ect.") 

Then also we must be on our guard lest we expect too much of 
education extending over only a short period. Social progress, par- 
ticularly in the case of a backward race, moves by slow degrees and 
may better be measured in centuries than in years. But to deny the 
power of education to function perceptibly in one generation is 
almost to deny the power of the human mind to respond to training. 

Has education improved the living conditions of the Negro race? 
In what ways have the educational facilities provided by the state 



Influence of Education 115 

of Mississippi brought about race progress? Among the things that 
make for social betterment and race progress we may mention own- 
ership of homes; acquisition of farm property including lands, 
domestic animals, and implements; increase in the number of farm 
managers; increase In the membership of the professional classes; 
decrease in crime. Reliable statistical information is available for 
an investigation along these lines. Possibly the investigation might 
be extended along other lines but I have not found available data. 
My study will therefore be restricted to the aforementioned topics. 

Ownership of Homes. Ownership of homes is one of the truest 
indications of economic efficiency. Besides, it is one of the most 
important factors in the health problem.^ Hence, if education func- 
tions at all it should function in economic efficiency leading to home 
ownership. Has this been the case? Something near the correct 
answer to this question might be obtained by a comparison of home 
ownership and facilities for education at intervals of ten years for 
the entire period of our study. But I have not found statistics 
available for such a comparison. The few statistics which I have 
found indicate a very high correlation between generally meager 
school facilities and small accumulation of home property. 

During the decade between 1900 and 19 10 there was a slight in- 
crease in the ownership of homes by Negroes, as well as an increase 
in the number free from encumbrance.^ In 1900, there was one owned 
home to every 31.3 persons, or a total of 28,855; ^^ 1910. there was 
one owned home to every 26.3 persons, or a total of 38,564. Or, 
taking a different view of the matter, in 1900 the owned homes 
represented 15 per cent, of all homes, and in 1910 they represented 
16.9 per cent. This increase of 1.9 per cent, for Mississippi was 
somewhat less than the average for the south Atlantic states and 
for the east south central states. From whatever view taken, the 
ownership of homes by Negroes is relatively small and has not pro- 
gressed as rapidly as might be desired. 

With respect to encumbrance, there were somewhat fewer homes 
under mortgage in 1910 than in 1900. Of the owned homes, 59 per 
cent, were free of encumbrance in 1900, and 60.5 per cent, in 1910. 

1 A Special Report of the United States Census in 1916, entitled Negroes in the United 
States (p. 46), says: "Undoubtedly one of the factors which have caused the decrease 
in the death rate — which decrease is almost universal in the cities of the South — is 
the increase in home ownership among the Negro population." 

^ Negroes in the United Slates, pp. 29, 104. 



ii6 Public Schools in Mississippi 

The statistics we have so far cited include both 'farm homes' 
and 'other homes'. The Negroes have been far more fortunate in 
the acquisition of homes as domiciles than as farms. While the 
number of farm homes increased from 20,939 to 24,791, or 18.6 
per cent., the other homes increased from 7,916 to 13,783, or 74.1 
per cent. The relatively heavy expense of purchasing land enough 
to provide a living has evidently prohibited many Negroes from this 
form of ownership. 

Facts probably more significant from the standpoint of education, 
are statistics of home ownership in cities of a population of 5,000 
and over. The best schools in the state have undoubtedly been the 
city schools supervised by the city superintendents. As throwing 
light upon the educational situation for the state as a whole, the 
consideration of the influence of city schools is of slight conse- 
quence, since there are only five towns in the state with a Negro 
population exceeding 5,000, and the total Negro population for all 
five is but 44,638.^ But, as an index to the value of education with 
respect to home ownership, the figures are indeed suggestive. For 
the state at large, we find in 1910 one owned home to every 26.3 
persons; in the cities, we find one to every 16.2 persons. Likewise, 
we find in the state as a whole 60.5 per cent, of the owned homes 
free of mortgage, and in the cities 73.6 per cent. If we knew to 
what extent the cities tend to select the best Negro element, we 
would have a more reliable measure of the influence of education. 
Certainly, it is true that the most capable Negroes tend to flock to 
the cities, but it is also true that many of the less capable congre- 
gate in them, induced by work in oil mills and in other manufactur- 
ing plants. If, in the absence of other data, we dare strike a balance, 
and say that on the average city Negroes are no better equipped by 
original nature than are country Negroes, the influence of the city 
environment and of superior school facilities is at once apparent. 

In general, we may say that the backwardness of the Negro 
schools of the state seems to be reflected in the meager accumulation 
of home property. That education has been an influential factor 
in fitting Negroes to acquire homes is apparent when we compare 
home ownership in cities where good school facilities are provided 
with the ownership in country districts where the provision for 
education has been inadequate. 

' Negroes in the United Slates, p. io6. 



Influence of Education 117 

Progress in Agriculture. The influence of education upon the 
economic efficiency of the Negro can perhaps best be estimated by 
considering the progress he has made in the dominant industry — 
agriculture. Students of the Negro problem have frequently 
pointed with pride to the large amount of farm property which the 
Negro has accumulated in the short period since his emancipation. 
Considered in the aggregate the figures which represent this accumu- 
lation appear large, but may we not with justice raise the question 
whether, in proportion to the population, they are as large as they 
should be. We have seen that there has been little progress in the 
development of schools for the colored race. Are there any evidences 
of arrested development in agriculture probably traceable to lack 
of proper training and instruction? The purpose of this section of 
our study will be to determine the possible influence of education 
upon the agricultural progress of the Negro in Mississippi. 

It is well for us first to consider the importance of the industry 
of agriculture in this state. The rural Negro population in 1890 
represented 95.4 per cent, of the total Negro population. By 1910, 
this percentage had dropped to 90.6, but in this year, despite the 
percentage decrease, it showed an aggregate increase from something 
over 700,000 to something over 900,000. We may safely say that 
practically all the rural Negro population was dependent upon 
agriculture for a livelihood. 

Significant to be observed in a study of agricultural progress with 
relation to education are: (i) the acquisition of farm lands; (2) 
the increase in the number of Negro farm managers ; (3) the acqui- 
sition of farm implements and machinery; (4) the acquisition of 
domestic animals. We shall investigate each of these topics in the 
order named. 

I. The Twelfth Census^ indicates that Negroes resident in 
northern states have acquired property since i860 more rapidly 
than their southern brothers. In the south Atlantic states Negroes 
have acquired property about three-fourths as rapidly as the whites 
in that section; and in the south central states only about half as 
rapidly as the whites. Mississippi, as representative of the south 
central states, has doubtless furnished fewer opportunities for the 
acquisition of farm property than have many of her neighboring 
states. 

^ Twelfth Census, Vol. V, p. cvii. 



1 1 8 Public Schools in Mississippi 

Despite the fact that more farms are operated by Negroes in 
Mississippi than in any other state, and despite the fact that there 
are more Negro farm owners than in any other state except Vir- 
ginia, the Negroes, in proportion to the population, have made 
relatively slow progress in acquiring farms.^ This is true in particu- 
lar of the last decade of our study. In 1900, 61. i per cent, of the 
white farmers owned their farms, and in 1910, 66.3 per cent. In 
1900, only 15.2 per cent, of the colored farmers owned their farms, 
and in 1910, only 16.3 per cent. It is evident from these figures that 
the relative increase in farm ownership for the colored race has been 
very small. 

The Twelfth Census also gives a special statistical study which 
proves that Negroes in the black belts accumulate property very 
slowly.^ This study is particularly significant for Mississippi since 
by far the greater part of the Negro population is concentrated in 
the black belt. From each of seven states,' black belts of fifteen 
counties were selected for comparison with a similarly selected 
group of white counties in each state. The farms operated by 
Negroes in each group of counties were classified according as they 
were operated by owners, by managers, and by tenants. In the 
resulting statistical display, Mississippi stood third among the 
states in percentage of Negro farm owners. But when the fifteen 
counties representing the black belts were considered separately, 
the state stood seventh in the list, only eight per cent, of the farms 
being operated by owners. The black belt of Mississippi is thus 
shown to be the least favorable place in seven states for the accumu- 
lation of farm property by Negroes. In the white counties of the 
state conditions were far more favorable. Here 38.4 per cent, of 
the farms were owned by the individuals who operated them. 

6 The Negro Year Book, 1917 (pp. 305, 314), gives figures which apparently contradict 
this statement. It shows that the increase in the number of farms operated by 
Negroes in Mississippi during the decade between 1900 and 1910 was thirty-eight 
per cent., that the average increase for the South was twenty per cent., and that 
only four states exceeded this record of Mississippi. It showed further that the 
aggregate number of Negro farm owners in the state exceeded that of all other states 
except Virginia. These figures, given in the aggregate, hardly represent the true 
situation. Instead of attempting to compare Mississippi with other states with 
respect to the aggregate increase, I have used as the basis for computing progress 
the ratio of farm owners to farm operatives of each race. 

6 Twelfth Census, Vol. V, p. cix. 

'The seven states were: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South 
Carolina, and Texas. 



Influence of Education 119 

I do not intend to argue upon this basis that more favorable edu- 
cational conditions in the white counties made the Negroes therein 
more thrifty. We have elsewhere shown that school facilities were 
possibly no better in white counties than in black counties. The 
high percentage of Negro owners in the white counties may be 
accounted for by the fact that lands there are cheaper; and by the 
fact that Delta land-owners dispose of land only in large tracts. 
Perhaps also the law of the survival of the fittest has operated. 
Since poor lands make it difficult to secure a living in the white 
counties, the less thrifty have migrated to the rich Delta planta- 
tions where the tenant system furnishes large returns for little 
labor. This theory is supported by statistics which indicate that 
the black counties are becoming blacker, and that the white coun- 
ties are becoming whiter.^ These statistics, therefore, can hardly 
be interpreted as a reflection of educational conditions, except in 
so far as we may note the parallel in generally poor school facilities 
and generally meager ownership of farm property in the section of 
the state containing about eighty per cent, of the Negro population. 

2. It might be expected that statistics indicating the progress of 
the Negro as a manager of farms would reflect economic efficiency 
attained by schooling. The practice, however, of employing man- 
agers for farms has not been very general in Mississippi, and is evi- 
dently on the decline. Even when managers are employed, white 
men are secured in about seven cases out of eight. White managers, 
in 1900, numbered 823 to 107 colored; in 1910, they numbered only 
719 to 106 colored. The Negro apparently has gained only a foot- 
hold in this occupation, and is barely able to hold his own in it. 

The objection to Negro managers lies chiefly in the fact that they 
have rarely developed power to control the laborers of their own 
color. The fault lies partly in the lack of executive ability of the 
managers, and partly in the suspicion of their ignorant laboring 
brothers. Further training might gain for the Negro a place in this 
occupation, but such as he has had has not resulted in making him 
a factor of great consequence as a farm manager in Mississippi. 

3. Very little of service in this connection can be learned from 
the available statistics of ownership of domestic animals.^ Domestic 
animals, especially horses, mules, and cattle, are frequently rented 

* United States Commissioner's Report, 1901, Vol. I, p. 740. 

9 Twelfth Census; Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, Mississippi Supplement. 



120 Public Schools in Mississippi 

by farm tenants or cared for by them with the consent of the owner 
or landlord. The census reports do not indicate the number of 
animals owned by tenants, but simply the number on farms under 
the care of the tenants. Hence it is difficult to estimate progress in 
this form of ownership. The statistics which we have, indicate a 
notable increase in the number of cattle (probably) owned by 
Negroes. They indicate also that during the decade between 1900 
and 1 910 Negroes apparently outstripped the whites in progress in 
hog-raising, but that neither race progressed very much. 

A reliable test of economic efficiency is the ability of a farmer 
to diversify his products. Farmers in Mississippi have not been 
much inclined to diversify. They have preferred rather to raise a 
single crop, sell it, and, from the proceeds, to purchase the things 
they need for home consumption. Recently, however, there has 
been an agitation to induce them to make their farms self-sufficient 
by planting forage crops and raising hogs, cattle, and other animals. 
It would be interesting to present facts showing the extent to which 
Negroes have responded to the call for diversification. Unfortu- 
nately there are no available figures on the subject. We know that 
there are fewer swine on the average Negro farm than on the ave- 
rage white farm, and that Negroes have never taken to the raising 
of sheep, goats, and bees. Aside from these bits of information we 
know very little. 

From what we are able to gather, the education the Negro has 
received has not resulted in an appreciable increase in the ownership 
of domestic animals. 

The introduction of improved farm implements and machinery 
is a true index, under ordinary circumstances, of the economic 
efficiency of farmers. The increased value of farm implements ought 
to be a fairly accurate measure of progress. According to the 
census reports (1900 and 1910) the Negro farmers have kept pace 
with white farmers in the acquisition of farm implements. Here 
again we have to discount the figures. Many Negro tenants work 
on shares and contract with their employers to furnish the tools to 
be used. Doubtless many of the implements reported from Negro 
farms belong to white landlords. Education may have induced a 
number of farmers of the Negro race to invest in improved ma- 
chinery, but to what extent this is true we have no means of ascer- 
taining. 



Influence of Education 121 

In concluding this section on progress in agriculture we may say 
that, as a rule, the Negro farmers have not advanced very rapidly. 
It is asserted that education has not improved and will not improve 
them. A fair trial has never been made. A meager provision for 
education, and that of a kind not designed to function in economic 
efficiency, has produced the lazy, unprogressive farmers of the 
present. Enough progress has been made, however, to indicate 
that the education Negroes have received has not been altogether 
wasted. What can be done with adequate facilities and improved 
methods, remains to be seen. 

Professional Service. Statistics indicating the increase in the 
number of Negroes engaged in professional service ought to prove 
a reliable indication of race progress. The transfer to the profes- 
sions from agriculture, trade, and domestic service is directly de- 
pendent upon mental capacity, ideals, and school training. Mem- 
bership in the professional classes should, therefore, reflect to a 
certain extent the educational facilities of the state. 

A special report of the United States Census Office, ^° in 1904, gives 
the following figures for Mississippi. Number of Negroes engaged 
in the various branches of professional service in Mississippi: 

Clergymen 994 Government Officials 39 

Dentists 5 Physicians 45 

Engineers 3 Teachers 661 ^^ 

Journalists 6 Total in Professional Service 1,888 

Lawyers 24 

It is quite evident that professional service has not enlisted a 
very appreciable number of Negroes in its ranks. It would be 
interesting to compare the figures here given with the figures for 
the two decades next preceding, but unfortunately I am able to 
furnish comparative statistics in only one or two instances. Be- 
tween 1890 and 1900, the number of clergymen increased from 989 
to 994; the number of lawyers decreased from 26 to 24; and the 
number of physicians increased from 34 to 45. In this decade, at 
least, professional service seems to have been practically at a stand- 
still. The small increase in the number engaged in the teaching pro- 
fession (see Statistical Summary, p. 141) during the same period is 
significant in this connection. 

*" United States Census, Occupations, 1904. 

" This number probably represents the number of males engaged in teaching. 



122 Public Schools in Mississippi 

Of course, it cannot be positively asserted that, since few Negroes 
are engaged in professional service in Mississippi, the preliminary 
training provided in the schools has been deficient. Doubtless 
many native Negroes have entered the professions and migrated 
elsewhere. Doubtless also, the emigration of the educated classes 
has exceeded the immigration. The social level of the race, however, 
is largely determined by the number engaged in professional ser- 
vice, since the lower orders of society generally look to the profes- 
sions for leadership. We may say, finally, that, to the extent school 
training can modify the life callings of individuals, the education 
the Mississippi Negro has received has apparently not directed him 
into professional service. 

The Negro and Crime. It was the contention of the early organ- 
izers of the Mississippi school system that education would reduce 
criminality. Many Southerners who at first were reluctant to 
shoulder the expensive responsibility of Negro schools were some- 
what reconciled to their burden by the prospect of a safer and more 
orderly society. Whenever Negro education has been advocated 
the argument that it would make the race more law-abiding has been 
brought forward. 

In more recent times Senator Vardaman and other observers of 
Negro life have expressed the opinion that the education the Negro 
has received has not tended to lift him to a higher level of morality. 
In the face of this contention we may well raise the question whether 
or not forty years of education — or lack of proper education — have 
tended to improve the status of the Negro in the eyes of the law. 
In our attempt to answer this question we shall let the statistics 
in the reports of the superintendent of the state penitentiary speak 
for themselves. These figures do not furnish all the information 
we desire, but such as is given provides the basis for some very 
definite conclusions. 

In answer to the question whether or not literacy tends to dimin- 
ish crime we offer the following data: Of the reports examined, only 
the one for 1909-1911 tabulates the number of illiterate criminals. 
In this year, we find that 944 of the 1,834 inmates of the peniten- 
tiary were illiterate, and that 28 others were unable to write. Of 
the total population ten years of age and over in Mississippi, 22.4 
per cent, are illiterate. We find, therefore, that over 50 per cent, 
of the criminals are coming from an illiterate population representing 



Influence of Education 123 

but 22.4 per cent, of the whole. It seems clear that literacy and 
keeping out of jail go together. To what extent this generalization 
will apply to the Negro we can but draw our own inference, since 
literate and illiterate criminals are not classified according to race 
in the report. 

I have collected and tabulated the most significant facts in the 
reports of the superintendent of the state penitentiary. These facts 
are presented in Table VIII. In the study of this table we are 
hampered by the fact that the crimes committed by the criminals 
of each race are not specified. But since such a large proportion 
of the criminals belong to the Negro race, we are reasonably safe 
in drawing inferences with respect to the race from the figures as 
given. A point that will probably occur to the reader as striking is 
the slump in the prison population in 1890. The superintendent 
accounts for this by calling attention to the raising of the limit of 
the fine for petty larceny from ten to twenty-five dollars.^' The con- 
clusions which we will draw, however, need not be affected by the 
exceptionally low figures for this year. 

A number of facts brought out in Table VIII strike us with start- 
ling effect: 

1. Although the Negro population of Mississippi has, during the 
three decades of the study, represented but fifty-six per cent, of the 
total population, it has furnished nine-tenths of the criminals. 

2. The number of Negro convicts has increased 84.6 per cent, in 
thirty years, paralleling an increase in the total Negro population 
of 55.2. The number of white convicts has increased 77.1 per cent., 
paralleling an increase in the white population of 64 per cent. 

3. Crimes against property in 1880 were twice as numerous as 
crimes against the person ; in 1910, the opposite was true, the crimes 
against property representing scarcely fifty per cent, of the crimes 
against the person. 

4. With respect to the particular crimes for which the criminals 
were sentenced, we note that for every case of murder and for every 
case of manslaughter recorded in 1880, there were five recorded in 
1910. The increase in the population may modify these figures, 
but it can by no means rob them of their terrible truth. 

5. There were almost three times the number of cases of rape in 
1910 than there were thirty years before. The number of cases 

'2 Report of Superintendent of Penitentiary, 1890, p. 13. 



124 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



practically doubled between 1900 and 1910. The number of cases 
of attempted rape also was multiplied threefold in thirty years. ^^ 

6. There were three cases of assault in 1910 to one in 1880. 

7. Larceny is apparently on the decline, and robbery and burg- 
lary on the increase. 



TABLE VIII 
CRIMINALS IN THE MISSISSIPPI PENITENTIARY 

{Statistics Compiled from Reports of the Superintendeitt) 





igio^i 


igoo^'' 


75po>« 


1880^-' 


Total number of convicts 


1,834 


910 


485 


997 


Number of colored convicts 


1,671 


823 


435 


905 


Number of white convicts 


163 


87 


50 


92 


TOTAL CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY 1« 


518 


311 


177 


622 


Grand larceny 


139 


98 


75 


323 


Larceny 


29 






III 


Forgery 


3 


16 


24 


18 


Robbery 


46 


26 


13 


12 


Burglary 


243 


116 


45 


92 


Burglary and larceny 


58 


55 


30 


66 


CASES OF PERSONAL VIOLENCE ^^ 


1,201 


517 


250 


270 


Murder 


509 


175 


90 


95 


Manslaughter 


374 


166 


75 


70 


Assault to kill, rob, or rape 


221 


no 


54 


72 


Attempted rape 


56 


45 


14 


17 


Rape 


41 


21 


17 


16 


CRIMES UNDER OTHER TITLES 


115 


82 


58 


105 



13 Doubtless a large number of the cases of rape represented by these commitments 
were crimes against Negro women. See Stone: Studies in the American Race 
Problem, p. 97. 

'* Based on number of convicts, July i, 191 1. 

" Based on number of convicts, September 30, 1900. 

'« Based on number of convicts, December 4, 1890. 

1' Figures based on number of convicts, December i, 1879. 

>8 Represents total of crimes in this grouping committed by convicts in State Peni- 
tentiary. 



Influence of Educatiofi 125 

8. Forgery, an offense dependent upon a certain amount of school 
training, has never carried many Negroes in this state to the peni- 
tentiary, and now shows a slight tendency toward declining. 

In furnishing an unduly large proportion of criminals from the 
Negro race, Mississippi is not an exception among the states of the 
Union. Nor is the alarming increase in crime among Negroes excep- 
tional in the case of Mississippi. Professor Walter F. Wilcox in 
1899 pointed out the fact ^^ that Negro criminality was increasing 
faster in northern than in southern states. The Negro Year Book ^° 
for 191 7 indicates that the same tendencies have continued down to 
the present. 

More notable, perhaps, than anything else is the rapid increase in 
the number of crimes involving personal violence. It would be 
interesting to know to what extent the commitments have been 
made for difficulties involving race antagonism, but the statistics 
throw no light on this phase of the subject. The truth is that 
Negroes are acquiring more respect for property and are tending 
to respect persons less. Is this not a problem for education, at 
least for an educational experiment? 

The apparent increase in crime in Mississippi may perhaps be 
extenuated by the fact that the courts have become increasingly 
more vigilant. Probably also, Negroes have tended more and more 
to bring their grievances into court. On the other hand, it is fair to 
surmise that murders and manslaughters have at all times found 
their way into the courts, and that the increase indicated by the 
figures comes very near representing the truth for these crimes. 

Professor Wilcox claims that the primary cause of crime is defec- 
tive family life and training.^^ Hence, he declares, crime is most 
common during the years just after the child has passed out from the 
control of the family, while he is finding himself ill-adapted by 
training for the new sphere of life. Statistics for Mississippi bear 
him out in his conclusion. In 1890, 272, or nearly half of the 485 
inmates of the penitentiary, were under twenty-five years of age, 
and 109, or nearly one-fourth, were under twenty. The same pro- 
portion holds for 1900. 

'' Stone: Studies in the American Race Problem, p. 443. 
''"Negro Year Book, 1917, p. 335. 
21 Stone: loc. cit. 



126 Public Schools in Mississippi 

Since defective family life seems to play an important part as a 
cause of crime, it would be well at this point to investigate the 
status of the Negro family in Mississippi, 

The United States Commissioner of Labor in 1889 asserted that 
almost seventy-five per cent, of the divorces in the South were 
granted to Negroes.^^ In this statement he may have been in error 
because it is not always easy to estimate the number of divorces in 
securing census returns. Many divorced people report themselves 
as single, and thus tend to reduce the total. From a Special Report 
of the United States Census Office ^^ in 1909 we learn that 41.8 per 
cent, of the white population of Mississippi fifteen years of age and 
over are married, and that 58.2 per cent, of the colored population 
of the same age are married. We learn also that 16.3 per cent, of 
all divorces were granted to whites, and 83.7 per cent, to Negroes. 
The percentage of divorce for the Negro race in Mississippi exceeds 
that of all other states. For the reason stated above, the estimate 
for Mississippi is probably not too high. Other statistics in the 
special report indicate that divorce is more prevalent in black than 
in white counties, and that the number of divorces is increasing. 

It seems, therefore, that there is a very close correlation of defec- 
tive family life and crime in Mississippi, and that the remedy will 
lie in the improvement of the marital relations of the Negro and 
in the providing of some form of education that will make up for 
the deficiencies of home training. Upon this subject. Professor 
Wilcox says ^^ that the most effective safeguard against crime is the 
inculcation in children by their parents of the desire to work and 
earn a living. He adds: "If the Negro family on the average is far 
less effective than the white, the education provided for the Negro 
children should aim frankly to supplement the shortcomings of 
their family life and reduce their temptations to crime by increas- 
ing their desire and ability to live by legitimate industry." 

Clarence H. Poe, a southern white man, in 1904 took the statistics 
which seemed to indicate that the Negro was becoming more crim- 
inal as he received more education, and clearly proved that the 

^Marriage and Divorce, Part I, p. 21. 

23 Ibid., p. 20. 

^* Stone: Studies in the American Race Problem, p. 448. 



Influence of Education 127 

figures had been misinterpreted." In concluding his argument in 
favor of increased educational facilities for Negroes, he says: 

It is plain, therefore, that even with the pitifully foolish and inefficient 
methods which have obtained heretofore, the schooling the Negro has had, 
has been helpful and not harmful. But we must adopt a wiser policy. In- 
dustrial education, as exemplified in Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, 
strikes directly at the evils which foster crime; and to breathe the spirit of 
these institutions into the general public school system of the race is the 
imperative and immediate duty of those who have the matter in charge. To 
delay in this means danger. It is the impotence and ineptness of the old 
systems that have brought people to doubt the wisdom of all Negro educa- 
tion. A direct result is the triumph of Governor Vardaman of Mississippi on 
the platform, "No white taxes to teach Negro schools." 

Gilbert T. Stephenson, one of the foremost authorities on the 
legal status of the Negro, in 191 7, adduces evidence which tends to 
show that the cause of crime among Negroes is lack of sufficient 
education of the proper kind.^® The small amount of education 
which they have received has been scarcely enough to function. 
Citing an estimate from the Mississippi Penitentiary, he shows that 
in one camp consisting of 450 Negroes about half could neither read 
nor write, and that less than ten per cent, of the other half had any- 
thing like a fair education. 

We may say finally that the contention that crime among Negroes 
is increasing in Mississippi is supported by undeniable facts. When 
the question is raised whether this is because of, or in spite of, the 
education they have received, I believe there can be but one answer. 
We have pointed out that twenty-two per cent, of the adult popula- 
tion of the state is furnishing over fifty per cent, of the criminals; 
we have also pointed out that Negro family life is defective, and 
consequently home training is deficient in a very large number of 
cases; we have pointed out that the school facilities which have 
been provided for Negro children have been far from adequate. 
These are causes sufficient to account for the situation. The 
beneficent results of proper education as shown in the graduates of 
Hampton and Tuskegee may put at rest the fears of any who doubt 
the moral value of education. We may admit that crime isdue to 
deficient education, but we cannot say that literacy is the cause of 

"^Atlantic Monthly, 1904, p. 162. 

"^^ South Atlantic Quarterly, January, 1917, p. 16. 



128 Public Schools in Mississippi 

crime. Although we may well question whether formal instruction 
in letters and computing — the sum total of the average Negro's 
education — is sufficient to insure economic efficiency and sound 
moral life, we must refuse to believe that this instruction has been 
positively detrimental. Can we hope for education to function in 
social efficiency unless we provide definite training in morals and 
in the things that make for economic independence? 

Summary. In concluding this chapter we do not wish to overlook 
the fact that in isolated cases the Negro race in Mississippi has made 
marked progress. Banks, newspapers, insurance companies, and 
other business enterprises have been organized and successfully 
operated by Negroes. Mound Bayou, a Negro town of about 600 
inhabitants, is owned and governed exclusively by Negroes. For 
the masses, however, the lack of progress indicated by the statistical 
studies of this chapter, is typical. This lack of progress is not an 
argument that education has been useless, but a plea that a more 
ample provision be made and that the form of education be adapted 
to the needs of the race. In view of the meager equipment of the 
public schools, the short terms, the formal course of study, the ill- 
trained and poorly paid teachers, it would be marvelous, indeed, 
if greater results were forthcoming. It is trite to say that the 
virtual stagnation of fifty-six per cent, of the population of Missis- 
sippi constitutes a menace to the social and economic health of the 
state. Better facilities and specific training leading to moral and 
economic efficiency will alone improve the situation. 



CHAPTER XII 

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS 

Density and Distribution of the Population, and its Influence on 
FAucation. A few facts in regard to the density and distribution of 
the population in Mississippi will serve to throw light on the edu- 
cational situation. The author has compiled a few such facts from 
the Twelfth and Thirteenth Censuses and placed them in tabular 
form in Table IX. It will be observed that the total population of 
the state increased in twenty years over 500,000, representing a 
percentage increase of about 40 per cent. During the same period 
the number of towns with over 2,500 inhabitants, doubled in num- 
ber, and the urban population increased threefold. The density of 
the state increased from 27.4 persons to the square mile in 1890, to 
38.2 persons to the square mile in 1910. It should be observed, how- 
ever, that, in spite of the fact that there was a large increase in the 
urban population, and in spite of the fact that the rural population 
was relatively less in 19 10 than in 1890, there was an absolute in- 
crease of over 300,000 in the number of country people. 

Both white and colored races seem to have shared the increase 
almost equally, although the white population increased somewhat 
more rapidly than the colored race during the last decade. It is 
evident that the Negro population in Mississippi is still the dominant 
racial element in respect to numbers. Mississippi and South Caro- 
lina are the only two southern states where this is true. In 1900, 
among the states of the Union, Mississippi had the second largest 
Negro population. In thirty-eight of the seventy-nine counties, 
the Thirteenth Census shows that half the inhabitants were Negroes ; 
in seventeen counties three-fourths of the inhabitants were Negroes; 
in Issaquena County 94.2 per cent, of the population were of the 
colored race. 

These facts bring home to us the truth that the educational 
problem in Mississippi is largely a rural problem. They suggest the 
difficulties which confront the state in its efforts to provide educa- 
tional facilities for a population so widely distributed. They sug- 



130 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



gest, further, the burden which must be imposed upon the white tax- 
payers, if they are to provide equal educational facilities not only 
for their own children, but also for the children of the colored race. 

TABLE IX 
DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION, 189O-I9IO 

{Compiled from United Stales Census Reports) 





IQIO 


igoo 


1 8 go 


Total population 


1,797-114 


1,551,270 


1,289,600 


Number of towns over 2,500 


24 


22 


12 


Population of towns over 2,500 


207,311 


120,035 


69,966 


Population of country 


1,589,803 


1,431,235 


1,219,634 


Per cent, city 


II-5 


l-J 


5-4 


Per cent, rural 


88.5 


92 -3 


94.6 


Number of people per square mile 


38.2 


33 I 


27.4 


Total white population 


786,111 


641,200 


544,851 


Total colored population 


1,009,487 


907,630 


742,559 


Per cent, white 


43-7 


413 


42.4 


Per cent, colored 


56.2 


58.5 


57.6 



Illiteracy. The illiteracy situation in Mississippi is summarized 
in the Thirteenth Census:^ 

There are 290,235 illiterates in the state, representing 22.4 per cent, of 
the total population ten years of age and over, as compared with 32 per cent, 
in 1900. The percentage of illiteracy is 35.6 among the Negroes, 15.1 among 
foreign-born whites, and 5.2 among native whites. It is 5.3 for native whites 
of native parentage and 2.2 for native whites of foreign and mixed parentage. 

For each class of the population the percentage of illiterates in the rural 
population greatly exceeds that in the urban; and for all classes combined 
the percentage is 23.8 in the rural population as against 13 in the urban. For 
persons from ten to twenty years, inclusive, whose illiteracy depends largely 
upon present school facilities and school attendance, the percentage of illite- 
racy is 14.4. 

Here again we meet a rural problem and a problem of educating 
the colored population. The illiteracy among native whites is rela- 

' Thirteenth Census, 1910, Population, p. 1038. 



Social and Economic Progress 



131 



tively small, and that among foreign-born whites does not consti- 
tute a menace, since Mississippi receives a very small number of 
immigrants from foreign countries. 

With particular reference to the Negro race we observe that 
25.7 per cent, of the urban population and 36.8 per cent, of the 
rural population are illiterate. It seems clear that the fault lies 
mainly in lack of facilities for instruction in rural communities. ^ 

That the school system is still not more than two-thirds as effi- 
cient as it should be, is indicated by the fact that in 1910 only 63.7 
per cent, of the Negro children between the ages of six and fourteen 
were in school. However, we must concede the fact that much 
has been done with meager facilities toward equipping Negroes 
with a knowledge of reading and writing. 

Economic Development. From the figures in the accompanying 
table it is evident that there was a very small increase in the wealth 
of the state from 1886 to 1899. In fact, the assessed valuation of 
property in 1899 was still below the assessed valuation in 1870 when 
the school system was established.^ By comparing the figures here 
given with those given at the beginning of this study (page 3) 
we find that the state as late as 1909 was only three-fifths as wealthy 
as it was before the Civil War. 



Value of realty 

Value of personal property 

Value of real and personal property 



1909 



$231,889,588 
109,928,544 
341,818,132 



1899 



5113,210,931 

48,258,651 
161,469,582 



$88,496,483 

40,702,561 

129,199,044 



The greater part of the wealth of the state has consisted of farm 
property. The census of 1910 tells the story of the increase in this 
form of wealth in the following words:* "The total value of farm 
property increased during the last ten years by $222,094,000, or 
108.8 per cent. To this total increase, $182,155,000 was contri- 
buted to by land and buildings; $32,590,000 by live stock; and 

2 Negroes in the United States, pp. 100-102. 

" The author is aware that assessed value is not always true value, but in the present 

instance it is the only available means of estimating value. 
^Abstract of Census, 1910, Mississippi Supplement, p. 612. 



132 Public Schools in Mississippi 

$7,349,000 by implements and machinery. The total absolute gain 
was more than six times as great, and the total percentage gain 
nearly five times as great between 1900 and 1910, as during the 
decade immediately preceding." We may add by way of explana- 
tion that between 1880 and 1890 the value of farm property in- 
creased only 37.1 per cent.; and between 1890 and 1900, only 22 
per cent. 

It is clear that the state has been slow to recover from the eco- 
nomic demoralization which succeeded the Civil War. During the 
first three decades of our study very little progress was made. With 
the opening of the new century, however, progress has been made 
by leaps and bounds. 

Evidences of the struggle the state was having in its efforts to 
meet the ever-increasing demands of the schools, are not wanting. 
Complaints against heavy taxation were being continuously raised. 
In 1882, the school fund was increased $100,000 by legislative 
enactment, and the state tax was decreased from three to two and 
one-half mills. This caused a deficit, ^ and brought about retrench- 
ment in 1888. In 1897, the six-mill tax levy failed to meet the 
legislative appropriations, and the schools stood in danger of being 
closed. ^ The governor had to call a special session of the legislature 
to remedy the situation. Crop failures and epidemics of yellow fever 
from year to year contributed to the demoralization. 

The state school fund in 1886, including fines and forfeitures, 
retained in the counties, amounted to $335,551.23; by 1899, it had 
increased to $675,645.78; and by 1909, to $1,249,516.64. The 
schools were therefore demanding in 1909 four times as much as in 
1886. These figures seem to indicate that the demands of the 
schools were increasing more rapidly than the ability to pay. 

As increased economic prosperity resulted in the improvement 
of school facilities, so, in turn, increased efficiency in the school 
system has doubtless tended to augment economic prosperity. 
Within the last ten years conditions of rural life have improved 
wonderfully. Good roads, rural free delivery, telephones, diversi- 
fied farming have contributed to the forward movement. Missis- 
sippi is now demonstrating her faith in public education by appro- 
priating, year by year, larger and larger sums for its support. 

^ Message of Governor Lowry, January 5, 1888. 

» House Journal, Extra Session, 1897, Message of Governor, p. 8. 



CHAPTER XIII 
CONCLUSIONS 

I. In an agricultural state, so sparsely settled as Mississippi, the 
burden of maintaining separate schools for the two races has been ex- 
tremely heavy. 

1 . The burden has been all the more heavy because the state has 
been slow to recover from the demoralization of the Civil War, 
and to establish itself upon a new economic basis. 

2. The burden became increasingly heavy with the awakening 
of the white people to the benefits to be derived from public edu- 
cation. This was certainly true down to 1900. 

3. With the increase of the educational wants of the white race, 
the white people have become more and more jealous of the amount 
that was required to defray the cost of Negro schools. 

4. The inequitable method of distributing the school fund among 
the counties has caused the tax-payers of certain counties to feel 
that they were being discriminated against, and to believe that the 
Negro schools — more specifically the black counties — ^were draw- 
ing more than their proportionate share of the state's revenues. 

5. Although loud complaints have been raised against the taxa- 
tion of the whites to support Negro schools, a conservative element 
has in most instances controlled the legislative assemblies and pre- 
vented action which might have proved disastrous to Negro schools. 

II. Public sentiment in regard to the education of the Negro has 
been divided. One wing has regarded education as a social necessity; 
another has held that the cost of the education of the colored race was 
greater than the returns that came from it. 

I. During the first decade after the close of the Civil War, south- 
ern leaders seem generally to have favored the education of the Negro. 
The opposition to public education which developed during this period 
seems to have been directed more against the abuses of its adminis- 
tration under the Reconstructionists than against the education 
of the Negro. Among the southern leaders who were outspoken 
in their belief in the education of the Negro, were Governor Hum- 



134 Public Schools in Mississippi 

phreys, Senator J. Z. George, Governor Stone, and State Super- 
intendents Joseph Bardwell and Thomas Gathright. 

2. Legislation during the period immediately succeeding the 
Reconstruction carefully conserved the rights of the Negroes. 

3. From the first there seems to have been in the minds of some 
a lack of faith in the capacity of the Negro to profit by instruction^ 
In later days this sentiment found expression in the utterances of 
Vardaman and his followers. 

4. Belief that industrial training offered the best form of edu- 
cation for Negroes became evident during the eighties, but it has 
never developed strength enough to bring about the adoption of 
the principle. 

5. Among the leaders in later days, advocates for giving the 
Negro adequate educational opportunities have not been wanting. 
The most prominent spokesmen for the Negro's rights were Gov- 
ernors Longino and Noel, Superintendents Preston and Kincannon, 
and Bishop Galloway. 

6. Although opposition to the prevailing form of education has 
apparently been the dominant political sentiment within recent 
years, radical action has in most cases been successfully combatted 
by a conservative majority. 

7. White educators have generally favored providing adequate 
school facilities for Negroes. 

8. The Negroes in early days were enthusiastic and eager to secure 
education. We have few expressions from them in recent years, but 
the impression one gets is that the masses have become apathetic. 

III. On account of the financial depression of the state, rapid edu- 
cational progress was retarded until after igoo. Despite unfavorable 
conditions during certain periods, the efficiency of the white schools 
has slowly but steadily increased. The efficiency of Negro schools, 
on the other hand, has not improved, and even shows signs of retro- 
gression. 

1. The efforts of the Reconstructionists resulted in the organiza- 
tion of a strong administrative machine, but one too expensive for 
a state in sore economic straits. To these efforts, however, is due 
the establishment of a large number of Negro schools. 

2. The southern Democrats, after overthrowing the carpet-bag 
government, were forced to retrench along educational lines. Re- 



Conclusions 135 

trenchment resulted disastrously for both white and colored schools, 
but there was no direct move to deprive the Negro of the privileges 
of education. 

3. During the first decade after the return to southern rule, the 
enrolment and average daily attendance increased rapidly, but the 
efficiency of the schools was of a very low order. 

4. The reforms of 1886 gave the schools administrative machinery 
which has remained substantially unchanged until the present date. 
Statistics indicate very little progress in white schools from 1886 
to 1900, yet considering the activity of the state department, there 
was probably internal progress which is not evident in the figures. 
Statistics indicate that Negro schools during this period were posi- 
tively on the retrograde. The enrolment increased, but the average 
daily attendance and the number of teachers remained stationary. 
The number of pupils per teacher increased from 50.9 to 63.5, and 
the average monthly salary decreased about eight dollars. 

5. The period from 1900 to 1910 is a period of marked prosperity 
for the white schools. A larger number of children were now being 
reached, and more efficient supervision, better teachers, and more 
comfortable buildings were now being provided. The Negro schools, 
however, show few signs of improvement. They have continued to 
be poorly equipped, poorly attended, and poorly taught. 

6. The efficiency of Negro teachers, as represented by the grade 
of certificate held, has steadily declined since 1890. This has in 
part been due to the cutting off of the support of the Normal De- 
partment of Tougaloo University, and the closing of the Holly 
Springs State Normal. 

7. Never directly, except in the case of the closing of the State 
Normal School, has the state discriminated against the Negro 
schools. A four-months' term is mandatory, and both white and 
colored children are to receive the benefit of the state school fund. 
The present plan of distributing the school fund has even worked 
in favor of the Negroes to the extent of providing comparatively 
high salaries for Negro teachers in the populous black counties. 
A county institute is provided for each race if the number of school 
districts for each race exceed fifteen. 

Loopholes for discrimination by county authorities have been left, 
by permitting the county superintendents to fix the salaries of 
teachers within certain limits, and by basing the salary upon the 



136 Public Schools in Mississippi 

grade of certificate awarded by the county examining board. Al- 
though under this law the salaries of white teachers have always 
been higher than those of colored teachers, it is impossible to tell 
to what extent discrimination has been practised, since county 
superintendents are required to take into consideration not only the 
grade of certificate, but also the average attendance, the ability 
of the teacher to manage the school, etc. The supply of teachers, 
and the differing social wants of the two races have doubtless 
helped to determine the salaries paid Negro teachers. 

IV. Lack of progress in education is paralleled by a lack of progress 
in the social and economic life of the Negro. The slender provision for 
education offered in the public schools has been insufficient to produce 
appreciable results. Besides, no attempt has been made to provide 
training suited to the needs of the colored race. 

1. As a rule, Negroes have been slow to acquire homes of their 
own, but in the cities of the state, where the schools are under 
the supervision of competent white superintendents, they have 
acquired homes more rapidly than elsewhere. 

2. They have made little progress in the ownership of farm prop- 
erty and have not developed managerial ability to any extent. As 
an economic factor, the Negro farmer represents a very low degree 
of efficiency. With proper training along agricultural lines, how- 
ever, he promises to make a much more efficient operative. 

3. It can hardly be said that the education which has in past 
been provided, has directed any considerable number of Negroes 
into the professions, nor is it likely that the Negro will compete 
successfully in this field for some years to come. 

4. Crime among Negroes is certainly on the increase. It cannot 
be declared that education is the cause of this, for many of the 
prisoners are illiterate. Besides, the schooling which has been pro- 
vided has been scarcely sufficient to influence Negroes one way or 
the other. Further, defective home life, which criminologists agree 
upon as the chief cause for crime, is found to be a very significant 
factor among Mississippi Negroes. Proper training along moral 
and industrial lines alone will remedy the situation. To neglect 
to provide the necessary school facilities for development along 
these lines is itself a crime against society, and one which will result 
in the detriment of both white and colored races." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PRIMARY SOURCES 
STATE REPORTS, JOURNALS, STATISTICAL DATA, ETC. 

1. Reports of the State Superintendent, 1 870-1910. 

2. Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1870-1910. 

3. Reports of the State Treasurer, 1872, 1874. 

4. Reports of the State Auditor, 1874, 1876, 1886, 1889, 1900, 1901, 1903, 1905, 

1907, 1909, 1910. 

5. State Laws, 1845, 1865-1910. 

6. House and Senate Journals, Messages of Governors, 1865-1910. 

7. Journals of Constitutional Conventions, 1865, 1868, 1890. 

8. Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Censuses. Also Special Reports. 

9. Freedmen's Bureau Reports, 1865-1869. 

10. Proceedings of Peabody Fund Trustees, 1867-1900. 

11. United States Congress, Report of Committee on Southern Affairs, 1872. 

12. The Negro Year Book. 

EDUCATION.\L LITERATURE 

1. Mississippi Educational Journal, 1871. 

2. American Journal of Education, 1875. 

3. The Mississippi Teacher, 1 888-1 889. 

4. The Mississippi Journal of Education, 1895. 

5. Proceedings of Mississippi Teachers' Association, 1877, 1883, 1887, 1892, 

1894, 1905, 1910. 

6. Miscellaneous papers and pamphlets of Mission Boards doing work in the 

South. 

7. Current Periodicals: World's Work, Atlantic Monthly, South Atlantic Quar- 

terly, etc. 

NEWSPAPERS 

I. Vicksburg Times, 1 868-1 870. 

2.- Hinds County Gazette, 1870-1878, 1887-1891, 1903-1904. 

3. The Weekly Pilot, 1875. 

4. Port Gibson Record {Reveille), 1 887-1890. 

5. New Orleans Times Democrat, 1903. 

6. Greenville Democrat, 1903. 

7. Jackson Daily News, 1903. 

8. Daily Clarion, Brookhaven Ledger, Clarion- Ledger, 1868 to the present. 

9. Natchez Democrat, 1867-1873. 



138 Public Schools in Mississippi 

SECONDARY SOURCES 

1. Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, fifteen volumes. 

2. Fleming: Documentary History of Reconstruction, two volumes. 

3. Garner: Reconstruction in Mississippi. 

4. Lynch: The Fact^ of Reconstruction. 

5. Memoirs of Mississippi, Goodspeed's Edition. 

6. Rowland: Mississippi (Encyclopedia). 

7. Lowry and McCardle: History of Mississippi. 

8. Riley: School History of Mississippi. 

9. Eaton: Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen. 

10. Pierce: The Freedmen' s Bureau. 

11. Fant: Secondary Education in Mississippi (New York University disser- 

tation). 

12. Beeson: Die Organisation der Neger-erziehung in den Vereinigten Staaten 

von Amerika seit i860 (Leipzig dissertation). 

13. Stone: Studies in the American Race Problem (including studies by W. F. 

Wilcox). 

14. Mayes: History of Education in Mississippi. 



STATISTICAL SUMMARY 
MISSISSIPPI SCHOOLS 1871 TO 1910 

SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLMENT, AND AVERAGE DAILY 
ATTENDANCE OF WHITE AND COLORED CHILDREN 







1 




1 


AVERAGE DAILY 


SCHOOL POPULATION 1 


ENROLMENT 


ATTENDANCE 


Year 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


1871 






66,257 


45,429 


49,290 


36,040 


1S75 


141. 514 


176,945 


78,404 


89.813 


40,381 


60,514 


187.6 


171.147' 


184,857== 


76,0262 


90,1782 


65,384^ 


68,5803 


1877 


150,504' 


174.485' 


84,374 


76.154 


52,384' 


44,627 » 


1878 


155.679 


190,211 


101,201 


104,177 


64,318 


71,608 


1879 


156.434 


205,936 


105,957 


111,796 


66,381 


72.592 


1880 


175.251 


251.438 


112,944 


123,710 


72,881 


83,880 


1881 


180,026 


239,433 


111,655 


125.633 


74.647 


85,417 


1882 


185,026 


259.105 


104.451 


109,630 


61,738 


73,578 


1883 


180,093 


267,478 


125,598 


141.398 


68,946 


85.517 


1884 


185,026 


259.105 


129,647 


149.373 


85.294 


99,127 


1885 






142,177 


154,430 


84.347 


101,038 


1886 


202,532 


369,090 


129,203 


153.530 


84,884 


99.134 


1887 


202,532 


269,090 


126,919 


143,825 


77,868 


85.996 


1888 


196,247 


268,100 


147,817 


162,304 


89.933 


94.085 


1889 


191,792 


272,682 


148.435 


173,552 


90,716 


101,710 


1890 






150,868 


183,290 


96,077 


111,627 


1891 


206,608 


291,014 


154,447 


173.378 


93.282 


104,298 


1892 


214,419 


301,764 


161,986 


178,941 


96,818 


100,457 


1893 






154.459 


180,464 


93,099 


101,844 


1894 


220,751 


320,780 


158,685 


186,899 


98.753 


107,494 


1895^ 


220,751 


320,780 


162,830 


187.785 


99,048 


103,635 



1 School age is from five to twenty-one. 

2 "Approximately correct," says superintendent. 
' Average monthly enrolment. 

* "Estimate low," says superintendent. 



140 Public Schools in Mississippi 

MISSISSIPPI SCHOOLS 1871 TO 1910 

SCHOOL POPULATION, ENROLMENT, AND AVERAGE DAILY 
ATTENDANCE OF WHITE AND COLORED CHILDREN {Continued) 



SCHOOL POPULATION 


ENROLMENT 


AVERAGE DAILY 
ATTENDANCE 


Year 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


1896 


2 1 6,300 5 


3 1 5,000 5 


165,878 


197,875 






1897 


216,300^ 


3 1 5,000 5 


170,811 


196,768 






1898 














1899 






167,1786 


191, 968 6 


98,379' 


102,4476 


1900 


227,470 


331,330' 










1901 






179,142 


208,346 


108,805 


119,190 


1902 






185,214 


213,961 


111,034 


113,919 


1903 






192,881 


210,766 


115,079 


118,096 


1904 






200,365 


233,612 


114,781 


123,390 


1905 






199,293 


224,438 


114,253 


121,039 


1906 






209,752 


243,676 


125,295 


142,602 


1907 






211,549 


270,659 


134,846 


150,201 


1908 


301,548 


410,089 


205,978 


278,713 


122,261 


137,197 


1909 






221,392 


238,639 


138,813 


145,153 


1910 






224,837 


244,300 


118,541 


142,834 



' United States Commissioner's Report, 1895-1896. 

^ In reports from this date on, the statistics for separate districts are given separately. 

Figures here given are totals for rural and separate district schools. 
' United States Commissioner's Report, school age, five to eighteen. 



Statistical Summary 



141 



WHITE AND COLORED TEACHERS, AVERAGE MONTHLY 
SALARIES 1875 TO 1 9 ID 



NUMBER OF TEACHERS 


AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARIES 


Year 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


1875 


2,859 


2,109 


$57-50' 


$53-45' 


1876 


1,773' 


1,0052 


41.08 


38.54 


1877 


2,6693 


1,459' 


29.19= 


29.19 = 


1878 


2,948 


1,813 


27.00 


27.002 


1879 


3,255 


2,112 


30.26 


30.26 


1880 


3,255 


2,314 


30.05 


30.05 


1881 


3,414 


2,644 


30.07 


30.07 


1882 


2,910 


2,272 


30.03 


30.03 


1883 


3,559 


2,784 


32.68 


32.68 


1884 


3,873 


2.933 


28.73 


28.73 


1885 


4,215* 


3.134' 


28.74 


28.74 


1886 


3,840 


3,012 


31-37 


27-40 


1887 


3,421 


2,592 


34-44 


25.24 


1888 


3,643 


2,826 


34-52 


24-05 


1889 


4,018 


3,097 


33-97 


24.16 


1890 


4.269 


3,222 


33-37 


23.20 


1891 


4,334 


3,212 


32.41 


22.54 


1892 


4,634 


3,288 


32.33 


24-52 


1893 


4,296 


2,201 


30.45 


22.31 


1894 


4.385 


3.192 


33-04 


21.46 


1895 


4.591 


3,264 


33-04 


21.53 


1896 










1897 


4.747' 


3,156' 







' Superintendent Cardoza said that varying salaries for races for this year were due 
to the fact that a greater number of white males taught schools for both races 
than did colored males — Superintendent's Report, 1876, p. 13. 

= United States Commissioner's Report, i88o, p. 176. 

' Ten counties not reported. 

■• Figures unreliable. ^ 

^United States Commissioner's Report, 1897. 



142 



Public Schools in Mississippi 



WHITE AND COLORED TEACHERS, AVERAGE MONTHLY 

SALARIES 1875 TO 1 9 10 {Continued) 



NUMBER OF TEACHERS 


AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARIES 


Year 


White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


1898 










1899 


4,419 


3,023 






1900 










1901 


5.147' 


3,3688 


$30.64 


$19.39 


1902 


5,159^ 


3,472^ 


31.48 


19.66 


1903 


5,524' 


3,398' 


33.85* 


19.698 


1904 


5,740' 


3,5628 






1905 


5,774' 


3,559' 


38.90 » 


20.838 


1906 


5,868 « 


3,614' 






1907 


5,981^ 


3,5i8« 






1908 


5,850« 


3,596'' 






1909 


6,0998 


3,552 


41.498 


20.31 8 


1910 


6,4728 


36928 


42.38 « 


20.528 



8 Teachers in both separate district and rural schools. 

' 807 teachers in separate districts, added by author to figures for rural schools; 507 

to the number for whites, and 300 to the colored. 
8 Salaries for teachers in rural schools. 
• United States Commissioner's Report, 1907. 



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